Riding the Waves
by jeychen5
Summary: Kai was just a regular girl with normal friends and below-average grades. Everything was good… then the monsters came and the world of Greek mythology tipped her world upside down. Kai wants none of it, so of course she's immediately thrown in the middle of it. Just another reluctant hero... Warning: OC- centric
1. Chapter 1

**[A/N]: **Not much to say except I hope you enjoy the first chapter of my story. I promise that chapter two will be less talky and expositiony. I'll stop talking now and let you read.

* * *

It goes without saying: school definitely sucks. Big time. Unfortunately, it's also where my entire world did a full 180. Go figure.

The trouble didn't start until the day of my school's annual "Parent Night." But I guess I should probably start some time before that.

I was in my sixth period American history class, struggling to stay awake as our teacher, Mrs. Tot, droned on about the evolution of the political parties since the early nineteen hundreds and outside social influences and blah blah blah. It was the last class on a Friday and my brain was fried from day-long excessive note taking and two pretest.

This class was the source of all my boredom-related causes of after school detention. By the end of the day I started to lose all focus in anything school-related, and it didn't help if Mrs. Tot was one of my more boring teachers. If she started talking about post war economics, there's a good chance I'd be snoozing, doodling, or passing notes in class.

…the latter being why I got detention that faithful day.

Mrs. Tot was talking about the shifting values of the Democratic Party since it was first conceived. I was only half listening, my attention split between drawing stick figures in my composition book and thinking about bulk-sized box of Skittles I hid (and occasionally sold individual boxes of) under my bed. "Illegal candy stashes" would get me at least two months worth of after-school detention of smacking chalkboard erasers together even though this school hasn't used a chalkboard in a bajillion years.

Anyway, it was when I caught Mrs. Tot saying: "All right, class. What do you think caused the democrats to become the party they are today? Put on your Democratic hats and really think about it!" that my Bad Idea light bulb lit up.

Of course, it was the teacher's pet (and student class president) Alana that spoke up. During that time, I tore out a sheet of paper from my composition book, scribble a word down in my awful handwriting, and tried to pass it to my friend, Hayden, who sat to my left.

My only mistake was that I made it too obvious.

Mrs. Tot caught me instantly. "Ms. Fischer," she addressed me calmly.

"Yes ma'am?" I straighten in my chair.

A few of my friends snickered. Alana turned towards me, giving me her patented "_seriously_?" look.

Mrs. Tot wasn't buying my innocent act. "What is in your hand, Ms Fischer?"

"A piece of paper, ma'am," I said quickly.

She glowered. "Is there something on the paper?"

I sighed. I couldn't lie to a teacher when she was giving a death glare like that. "Yes, ma'am."

"Would you mind reading it to the class?"

"No, not really."

"_Ms. Fischer_."

I slumped in my chair, trying to ignore the giggling that was coming from around me. I unfolded the paper and started to read it out loud, but Mrs. Tot interrupted me.

"Stand up in front of the class, please, Ms. Fischer since you have something important to say," she said.

I resisted the urge to groan and wind up in even more trouble. Why do teachers always do this to me? Is it fun to watch me suffer?

(You could say that I deserved this from passing notes in class, but that's beside the point.)

Silently, note in hand, I sulked to the front of the class. Hayden gave me a sympathetic look from the back row. Alana sighed, shaking her head.

I got to the front, where Mrs. Tot's desk was, and got ready to humiliate myself.

I took a deep breath and read my paper.

"Asshats."

After a beat, the entire class erupted into laughter. Even straight-laced Alana stifled a chuckle.

But Mrs. Tot didn't laugh. She looked like she wanted to throttle me.

"Care to explain yourself?" she asked, coldly.

I figured what the heck? I already got my detention. "You said to put on your 'democratic hats.' My ADHD brain immediately jumped to…" I did a rotating motion with my hand.

Mrs. Tot sneered. "Say it."

I blinked. "Asshats."

The class laughed on cue like a prerecorded studio audience. Nothing like some dirty words to get a room full of eight graders to show their true colors.

"Right." She smiled at me, but it wasn't friendly. "Go back to your seat."

That's all? I wanted to ask, but I figured I already made a moron out of myself already. No need to make it worse.

The last half hour of class went by smoothly. I actually tried paying attention this go-round. I even wrote some notes, even though my note book was layered in doodles and my writing was nearly illegible.

When the final bell rang, everyone gathered their stuff and ran towards the door like ants fleeing water. Hayden and I straggled near the end of the mob.

"Ms. Fischer," I heard Mrs. Tot say. "I need to have a word with you."

I turned towards Hayden. "I'll meet you later, 'kay?"

She looked at Mrs. Tot wearily, then back at me. Her gaze made me uncomfortable, for some reason. "All right." She said, and left.

I sat in the front chair, closest to Mrs. Tot's desk, as I was accustomed to. Mrs. Tot got out of her chair and strolled to the front, leaning back on her desk. She regarded me with a cold, dark stare.

Mrs. Tot was one of the youngest teachers who worked at our school; maybe in her early thirties, and was very pretty. Her black curly hair was pulled into a classic "teachers'-style" bun, with a similar business casual style. She had moved here from Egypt a few years back, but trace amounts of her accent was still there.

Another thing: she always had a pitcher of water and a glass on her desk that she never touched during class. When asked about it on the first day of class, all she said was that it was for "sentimental reasons," and we left it at that.

After what seemed like eternity, Mrs. Tot finally spoke. "This is the second time you've interrupted my class in less than a month, Ms. Fischer. We're not off to a very good start now, are we?"

"No, ma'am," I said quickly. "I'm sorry."

She sighed. "You know what I must do, right? Understand that I have no choice. After-school detention for a week starting Monday sounds about fair."

I nodded.

"Tonight is Parent Night, so I'm going to expect better behavior from you. And I'm sure your parents do as well, correct?"

I shuffled in my seat. "Yes… yes, ma'am."

Mrs. Tot eyes soften a degree. "Kaia," she sighed. I was surprised, because she never used our first names. "I know it's not your fault. It's your 'condition'. But do try to do better. Are you taking your medication?"

My cheeks burned. I nodded again.

"Good. I'd hate to dole out any third offense punishment. It's not really my style anymore."

She fixed me a humorless smile, like I should know what she meant. That made me feel more nervous than I already was. I shook off the feeling and decided not to ask for details. I just "Yes ma'amed" and left as quickly as I could.

As I walked out of the class room, I heard Mrs. Tot pouring herself a glass of water, a sound I never thought could be so ominous.

* * *

I found Hayden sitting on the couch with a couple of our other friends in the common room.

The common room (or "chill zone" as our principal who failed at being cool called it) was basically a cross between a library and a rec room. Shelves of books sat by the plush leather couch. Adjacent, there were a cluster of round tables by the window where you could study, but mostly they were used for board games and snoozing.

A blonde girl sat alone near the window, reading a book with a building on the cover. I recognized her as one of the sophomores who were new to the school.

A fuse ball table was on the opposite wall. A large TV sat on the wall in front if the couch. One of my friends, Axel Powers (yes, that is his real name), was channel surfing through stations.

I plopped next to Hayden, and lolled my head back in an exaggerated dying expression.

She laughed. "That bad?"

"A full week of after school detention," I groaned. "I'll miss, like, ten whole hours of TV."

One of Axel's friends piped in, "At least it starts Monday. You have a two day break."

"Pfft."

Hayden play-mockingly patted my head like, "Poor baby."

Axel stopped flipping channel and fixed me with his sea blue eyes. I couldn't help but notice the cute way his hair swept over his forehead, the dimples in his cheeks… "I can't believe you said _that_ in class," he said, shaking his head in disbelief. "That's—"

"Insane," Hayden offered. "Perhaps psychotic?"

"It was pretty funny. And pretty cool."

My cheeks warmed and my stomach fluttered at the compliment.

I chuckled sheepishly. "Well, I didn't plan to say that out loud and all…"

My friends laughed and playfully teased me before going back to doing what they were before I arrive: watching TV or gossiping.

Hayden raised an eyebrow at me. "Asshats? Really?"

"Oh, shut up."

Hayden laughed and we talked for a while; our usual stuff about what was on TV and how I blushed when Axel complimented me. Hayden and I have been best friends since third grade. We were virtually inseparable.

Hayden was half-white, half-Japanese with long dark hair; strangely though, her eyes were pale green. She wore combat boots with the school uniform. I wasn't sure if it was allowed being "Goth fashion" and all, but no one questioned it.

About a half-hour later, she decided to head back to her room to prepare for tonight.

"But Parent Night isn't for another two hours," I said, but as soon as I did I regretted it. "Oh, I'm sorry…"

Hayden shifted in her seat and stared at the floor.

Her father died two years earlier in an accident. She would've been sent to foster care if her mom hadn't taken custody. Hayden never told me the full story of how it all went down, which was fine, she didn't have to. But it was the part about her mother that was the biggest mystery. I had never met Hayden's mom, and until the accident, I didn't even know that Hayden _knew_ her mom.

"It's fine," Hayden said softly. "I just want to take a nap, that's all."

"Oh." I wanted to ask if everything was okay with her, but then figured that I was just being paranoid. "No problem. I'll see you tonight."

She nodded. "See you later." She grabbed the lavender bag that she took everywhere, and left the couch. Before leaving the room, she glanced at the blonde girl briefly. Distracted, Hayden didn't see the seventh grader that barreled into her.

"Sorry!" he squeaked, before limping over to the blonde girl.

Hayden eyed the boy curiously before shrugging and going on her way.

I recognized the seventh grader from my PE class. He had a muscular disorder or something which allowed him to sit out in class. I kind of felt bad for him; he was always looking on wistfully when we played extreme kick ball.

He went over to the blonde girl, and started speaking frantically to her. Maybe they were siblings? I didn't want to eavesdrop, so I turned my attention towards the TV. Old Jabberjaw cartoons were on.

When I returned to my room around three cartoons later, I was shocked to find that Alana was already there. Usually, she was at her many clubs or at practice. She sat in front of the vanity mirror that we shared, styling her caramel-colored hair into a bob with her curling iron.

Music played on the radio. I recognized it as the Jonas Brothers, Alana's favorite band. I cringed and rolled my eyes. I was tempted to throw the radio out the window, but I controlled my (completely justified) urged and plopped down on my bed.

Alana looked at me through the mirror. "Some stunt you pulled today." She sounded half amused, half annoyed.

"Yeah, well…" I sighed, hugging my stuffed panda bear to my chest. The last thing I wanted was another scolding.

"Hmm." She set the curling iron down, and spun on her seat to face me. "Listen, Kaia," she said gently, or maybe condescendingly, "you have to stop acting like that. It reflects badly on both of us, and I, well… I have an image to uphold."

I glared listlessly at Alana then closed my eyes. How could someone so snotty and straight-laced be _my_ sister, let alone my twin? We didn't even look alike, so how could she be bothered with me "ruining her image" when most people didn't even know we were related?

I bit my lip and nodded. "Sorry, Lana. It's been a long week."

"Have you been taking your medication every day?"

"Uh, define 'every day'?"

"Kaia!" Alana cried in a shrill voice.

"Kidding, Lana. Seriously." I sat up on my bed. "I hate taking them. They make me feel so…not really here."

Her glare softened. "I know, Kai. But maybe if you take one now, you'll behave tonight and not get into anymore trouble."

I sighed and raised my hands in defeat. "Fine, I will. Will that make you happy?"

Alana grinned, her brown eyes glittering in triumph. "Yes, it would." She turned back to the mirror, inspecting her perfect 'do. "Hey, let me straight iron your hair."

I snorted, hopping out of bed and heading towards the bathroom. "After last time? Not a chance!"

"I promise not to burn you this time!"

"Keep that thing away from me!" I slammed the bathroom door.

Through the door, I heard Alana's muffled voice call out, "Real mature, Kai!" and I couldn't help chuckling.

The bathroom was small, just a sink, toilet, and a shower. Everything was painted a soft peach color with seashell wall paper. Next to the door hung pink and green towels with our names embroidered on either one (I'll give you one chance to guess which is whose).

Above the sink, the mirror opened to a compartment that could be used to store medicine, which of course meant that I didn't store my medicine there.

I eyed the orange bottle of pills that lay on the counter. I knew that taking them now wouldn't do much good now since school was over, but there was no point in arguing with Alana. She meant well, but she could be so image conscious sometimes. She liked for everything to be her version of perfection and frankly, it was annoying.

But Alana was as close to perfect as one could get. Along with being the eighth grade president, she was co-head captain for the middle school cheerleading squad along with captain of the swim team. She got straight A's and never got a single detention in her life. Alana was beautiful, prettier than I was. She had flawless beige skin, a shade or two lighter than mine and perfect hair. Alana was one of those bubbly girls who loved pink, talked about boys, and debated the pros and cons of celebrity of course everyone loved her.

Then there was me, the complete opposite: An ADHD, dyslexic, trouble maker with a potty mouth who threw Alana's A plus-plus grade down to a C minus.

I berated myself for throwing a pity party, and grabbed the pills before I could delve deeper into my self-pity. I popped the bottle and swallowed one of the orange capsules, using the tap as a drink.

I hated the pills. They killed my appetite, and made me feel not quite all together, like my consciousness was floating around outside of my head.

In the fourth grade, I was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. The school provided tutoring and help, so reading and writing became somewhat easier than it would've been for me. My English and reading classes were still a hassle, though; words still swam around like an unsynchronized swimming team and reading anything more than a paragraph made my head throb and my eyes cross.

The pills didn't come in until seventh grade; my parents didn't want me on medication at the age nine. They tried to get me alternative help: special no process sugar, super fiber diets; one-cup-a-day green tea diets; strict exercise regimens (all of which I never followed). None helped, and with my teacher's coercion, my parents sort of gave in.

When I left the bathroom, Alana was still prepping herself in the mirror, smoothing the creases in her skirt and applying lip gloss.

"Conceited much?" I joked.

"Shh." She threw one of her makeup tissues at me. It sailed slowly over to me and landed harmlessly on my head.

"Ow," I said, deadpan.

Alana ignored me, placing a pink headband in her perfect hair and making googly eyes at her poster of Tristan McLean. "You should get ready," she said. "Mom and Dad will be here soon, and I want to see them before I speak. Besides, you look frumpy."

"Gee, thanks."

I looked down at my blue pants and white and red uniform collar shirt. The only thing "frumpy" about me were my mismatched pair of converses: one red, one green.

"Let me brush your hair," Alana insisted, waving her hair brush around. "Or a ponytail! You always look so cute with a ponytail."

After some convincing, I conceded, and let Alana have her way. Eventually, she had me in a ponytail with one of her pink scrunchies and (gasp!) lip gloss, which I planned to wipe of later.

Pleased, Alana grabbed our sweaters and ushered me out the door.

* * *

Hayden met us on the way to the auditorium. She was wearing a long sleeve school shirt with the red band on the bicep and long skirt with her boots. Her lavender bag hung at her side. She looked nice, but she looked sad.

I touched her shoulder. "You sure you want to come? No one's going to be mad if you stay in tonight."

"No," she said quickly, and put an arm around my shoulder to jostle me. "I mean, who's going to make sure you don't get in trouble for cussing out everyone and their mama?"

"Hardee-har-har."

We headed towards the noise. Mingling adults and chatty teens could be heard a mile away. When we got to the theater, I was taken aback by how many parents decided to come this year. I wasn't worried about seating, though, the theater had a 1,000 seating capacity: a stage worthy of any New York theater.

The student government decorated the entire auditorium with red and white streamers and balloons. A banner hung on top of the stage that read "Welcome, Parents, to Saint Catherine's School for the Gifted and Special. A fitting name, Alana once joked, since she was gifted, and I was "special".

Along the wall were tables filled with cheese and crackers, vegetable trays, chips and dip, and a cooler of water and soda. They looked great, but unfortunately, I wasn't feeling very hungry (thanks, Lana).

I caught Axel out of the corner of my eye. He was by the punch bowl with his parents and a group of his friends. When he saw me, he waved a "rock out" sign with his hand at me. I felt myself blush, but I waved the sign back.

Through the web of adults and students, we managed to spot my parents near the front, talking to Mrs. Tot. I grimaced and headed towards the exit, but Alana dragged me back by my ear.

My parents—David and Lanakila—smiled when they saw us. Hugs and greetings were exchange around.

Mrs. Tot excused herself, and I could've sworn she glared at me before she left, but I didn't really notice. It was nice to see my parents again. I didn't get to see them all the time, and honestly, I missed them.

Mom looked at me with beautiful dark eyes and a playful smile. Her brown skin was set beautifully against a dark green blouse and black pencil skirt. Her black hair was cut short.

My dad was handsome, with close cropped sandy hair and blue eyes. He wore his standard black business suit and dress shoes. The least serious thing about what he wore was a Scooby-Doo tie Alana and I got him for Father's Days two years ago.

Mom hugged me again. She smelled like our home: vanilla coffee beans with a hint of tropical fruit blend febreeze. "Hi, girls. You three look beautiful."

I rubbed the back if my head, embarrassed. "Mom…"

"And you've grown— what? Two, three feet, Junior?" Dad joked, measuring Alana, bringing his hand from his forehead to hers as if they were the same height.

"It's just 'Lana', Dad," Alana complained.

Dad just grinned. "Hey, your mother was Lana first. It's only fair."

We talked and caught up for a while. Mom and Dad talked about how our grandparents and Max (our baby brother) were doing; we talked about school so far. Sure, it didn't sound very exciting, but it was nice to talk to my parents again.

Eventually, Alana had to run backstage to join the other student council members. The principal, a pudgy guy in his fifties, came on stage a told everyone that they would be ready in a few minutes.

"Hayden," my dad said kindly. "Why don't you pick out a seat for us? We'll be there in a second."

Uh oh, I thought. Here it comes.

"Sure, Mr. Fischer," Hayden said, and left to find our seats.

My parents turned their attention back to me. I looked down, studying my shoe laces.

"Kaia," Mom said gently. "Your teacher, Mrs. Tot, had a talk with us. She said you were passing inappropriate notes in class. Is that true?"

I never understood why Mom asked me if something was true when she knew the truth anyway, but I always was honest when she did. "Yeah."

"Kai." Dad placed a hand on my shoulder. The joking in his voice was replaced with a serious edge. "We'll talk more about this later tonight. But know that your mother and I aren't exactly pleased with your behavior. You should know better."

"I'm sorry." I meant it. I hated making my parents upset and disappointed. They expected me to do my best, and I felt awful giving them otherwise.

Dad's eyes softened. "We know you're trying, Kai. Don't think that we aren't proud of you."

Proud of what, I wanted to ask. I struggled to maintain my C average. I wasn't a part of any clubs. I wasn't… well, I wasn't Alana.

Mom smiled at me reassuringly, which made me feel a bit better. Her warm smile reminded me back when we used to live in Hawaii and mom would hug me and sing me a lullaby whenever I was sad.

The lights in the auditorium dimmed, signaling for everyone to grab a seat.

We squeezed in the middle section by Hayden just as the principal was walking on stage. Hayden mouthed, "You okay?" I smiled and gave a thumbs up.

The night went as it always had: the principal first with cheesy jokes and phony positive attitude; then Alana with Vice President Axel Powers and the rest of the student body government from the other classes came on and talked about the plans for the year; and the high school band played the two same songs every year: the school theme, and the butchered chorus for "This is how We do it."

The teachers lined the bottom of the stage and the walls around the seats. Most looked bored, while others pigged out on snack table delectables.

But Mrs. Tot glowered at me, as if _daring_ me to goof up.

A video of the previous year highlights was started to play along some with dated pop music. My eyes were starting to glaze over. Every Parent Night was the same, and honestly it was getting old.

Next to me, Hayden had the same bored expression on her face, like she'd rather be doing pushups in P.E.

A cheesy clip with the principal at the pep rally stealing the pompoms away from an unsuspecting cheerleader to "show her how it's really done" played and sent the theater into hysterics. I nodded at the video and made a sour face at Hayden; she covered her mouth and puffed it her cheeks in a puking motion.

Suddenly, she froze and grabbed her arm rest. Her eyes went wide staring at the video… no, not the video, at Mrs. Tot. Her face went through a series of troubling emotions so quickly—shock, realization, fear—it worried me.

I frowned. "Hayden?" I whispered. "You okay?"

"We need to leave." Her voice was soft, but hoarse.

"What?"

She jumped, as if she had just realized that she'd spoken aloud. She swallowed hard, a bead of sweat trickled down her forehead. "Bathroom…" she said finally. "I have to go to the bathroom."

"Oh, okay." Something was wrong, but I decided not to press her. "I'll go with."

Hayden nodded and scurried out of her seat. I told my parents where we were going and that we'd be back soon.

I didn't know it then, but I wouldn't be seeing them again for a long time.

The hallway was a lot quieter than it had been earlier, which was kind of unsettling. I pretty much grew up at this school, but it was still downright eerie at night. It was like the quiet in a horror movie before a killer jumped out of a locker a killed the two unsuspecting teenage girls heading to the bathroom.

Okay, I chided myself. No more happy thoughts.

I walked closer to Hayden, or I tried to. Hayden speed walked so fast ahead of me, I nearly had to jog to keep up. I almost didn't notice when Hayden passed the bathrooms.

"Uh, Hayday," I said. "The bathroom is that-a-way."

Hayden continued to stalk ahead without a word.

I tried again. "Hayden?"

"We're leaving," Hayden retorted, as if it were a matter-of-fact. "Just trust me."

I froze in my tracks. We were a good ten feet from the side exit door. Hayden looked annoyed that we were stopping, but otherwise didn't say a word.

"Hayden," I said. "What are you talking about?"

She glanced nervously behind me at the theater doors. She looked like she wanted to bolt, but instead she said, "Mrs. Tot… she–"

"Oh, you're worried about her?" I laughed dryly. "She's mad at me, not you. Don't worry about it."

"No." Hayden looked back at the theater door. I've never seen her so nervous before. "Listen. There's this place— a camp— my mom told me about… I don't know much about it, but I know I need to get you there. It'll be safer for the two of us. Mrs. Tot won't be able to get you."

"You're not making any sense."

Hayden clenched her bag. "I'll explain better later, okay? But right now we need to leave."

"Hayden–"

"We're wasting time!"

"We can't just _leave_."

"No," another voice said. "No, you cannot."

Mrs. Tot stood behind us, arms crossed. I hadn't heard the theater doors open. It was as if she had just materialized there. I was expecting her to lecture us and write us up for skipping an assembly we were already attending, but she didn't look angry. She looked almost… pleased. As if we did something she bet money on us to do.

Hayden hissed and swore. But it wasn't in English, it didn't even sound Japanese.

"You." Hayden glared at Mrs. Tot. "I should've known."

Mrs. Tot frowned in a mocking way. "But you can't _see_ everything, right? You sea-types are so predictable."

Sea-types?

Hayden ground her teeth.

I looked between the two of them, confused. I had no idea what they were talking about, but I wanted to avoid a confrontation.

"Mrs. Tot," I said, trying to sound reasonable. "I'm sorry. We were just going—"

"Oh, I know where you were going," Mrs. Tot spat. "Going to that little camp for heroes? Pah! You won't be safe there for long. Fortunately for you, this is a third offense." She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out… a black whistle.

I started to say something, but thought better of it. Okay, I though, she has a whistle. Big whoop. What's she going do? Alert the entire school so they can shame us for attempting to leave school? I mean, that sounded awful, but not harmful.

Still, a chill ran down my spine, and I had a feeling that it was much worse than that.

"Please, Mrs. Tot," I said. "I don't… we're just—"

"Shut up!"

I flinched. Mrs. Tot was never one to yell or lose her cool. She was always calm and collected.

But the woman in front of us wasn't anything like that. Her eyes shone with a twisted, _insane_ light.

She raised a polished finger at me. "I'm sick of you. You're like your wretched father, always making up excuses."

"My dad?" I was started to get angry. She was pulling my parents into this crazy situation? "You don't know anything about him–"

"I know plenty," she said curtly. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that she almost sounded heartbroken. "I know a lot more than the two of you." She glowered at me. "Little Kaia… I didn't know your true identity at first, but I should have trusted my patron. I know you, and you are no threat, but my patron doesn't like to leave loose ends."

"Look, Lady," Hayden snapped, reaching into her bag. I didn't know what she was reaching for, but a can of mace or a club would've been nice. "I know want to do this, but—"

"Hayden Kawaguchi," Mrs. Tot grinned coldly. "Daughter of Thetis. I know of your divine blood. You are powerful, but even you can't defeat my patron's monsters."

Hayden paled like she'd seen a ghost. "How do you…"

I turned to Hayden. "Thetis? What is she—"

"Kaia. Get behind."

I haven't heard he speak that deathly serious in so long, and it scared me.

Hayden pulled what she grabbed from out of her bag. At first I thought it was a baseball bat, even though it was too big to fit in there. She emerged it completely: a large battle axe almost as tall as she was. The blade was a blacker-than-black metal, maybe iron. The shaft was pure gold with the lower half wrapped in worn brown leather. At the base, a jewel sparkled in a million different colors. I couldn't tell if it were a ruby or an emerald or a sapphire. It should have weighed a ton, but Hayden wielded it as if it were made of paper towel rolls.

"You want a fight?" Hayden's voice was ice cold. "Then bring it."

Mrs. Tot just smiled and put the whistle to her lips. "Time to die, little heroes."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** I would like to thank emmiem01 and Slone13 for their kind reviews on chapter one. Now onto chapter two!

* * *

Imagine the sharpest, loudest, most awful noise you have ever heard in your entire life. Imagine that plus nails on a chalk board, squeaky violin strings, Jar Jar Binks, and the world's loudest, ugliest baby all singing in horrible cacophony.

Okay, now multiply that by six and you'll have a pretty good idea how awful Mrs. Tot's whistle was. She blew it so loud I was surprised that no one came from the auditorium to investigate.

Hayden winced at the noise, her face screwed tight. I covered my ears, but there was no lessening the sound.

Thankfully (or unthankfully) the whistling stopped.

I looked up at Mrs. Tot, who just kept grinning like a crazy lady.

I scoffed. "That's it? You wanted to make us deaf?"

"Kai!" Hayden gasped and grabbed my arm. I followed her eyes to the floor to see what she was gawking at.

My heart nearly stopped beating.

The floor tiles were moving. A low snarl came from underneath, vibrating the floor. With terrible realization, I knew that large beasts were trying to emerge from under the ground, rising and breaking apart the tile like it was made of egg shells. My stomach churned.

"Oh, God," I squeaked.

"Kai," Hayden said. "Let's go."

"Okay."

We dashed towards the exit, running straight into the crisp evening air. We were emptied out into a small alleyway next to an old cafe and a boutique that Alana and her friends liked to visit on weekends. I was expecting the streets to be crowded on a Friday evening, but there were only sprinkles of people present. Families were going out for dinner; friends were hanging out near stores, chatting and catching up; a guy on a corner played the drums on orange buckets. Everyone was blissfully unaware of the awful things that Mrs. Tot had just unleashed.

We ran, weaving through groups of people and cutting through alleys. I didn't dare look back once. Hayden took the lead. I wasn't sure where she was planning to go, but as long as we were far away from the school and Mrs. Tot I didn't care.

My heart felt like it was trying to beat out of my chest, half from running and half from fear. Hayden looked no better than how I felt. Her face was paler than normal, but her eyes told me she was more surprised than terrified. That idea worried me.

Without realizing it, we had made it to a busier side of the city. Cabs zoomed recklessly past with typical cautiousness and consideration of the average New York taxi driver. The side walk was cluttered with people, who paid no attention to two panicked school girls (one wielding a giant battle axe) running for dear life. Then again, stranger things have happen in New York City.

Eventually, we had to stop. I slumped against a building wall, panting and as my adrenaline started to leave me. Hayden checked for pursuers from the direction we had come from.

"Do you see anything?" I asked Hayden between breaths.

She shook her head. "No. I think we threw them off for a while. But they will probably smell us soon."

"_Smell_ us? All right, what _were_ those things?"

She shook her head again, completely dumbfounded. "I… I don't know. I haven't seen anything like those before."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out." I made the time-out gesture with my hands. "What do you mean you haven't seen things like those before? You mean you've seen other–"

"Monsters? Yeah, I have." She frowned so deeply, it looked like it might've hurt.

My mind was reeling with questions. The way she said "monsters" was so casual… this was a side to Hayden that I've never seen before. But before I could ask any more, Hayden grabbed my arm.

"C'mon," she said. "We need to go. We can't stay here for too long."

"And go where?" I asked.

"We need a cab. How much money do you have on you?"

I just stared at her. "Fresh out of money."

She leaned her axe on the wall of the building and rummaged through her bag. After a while, she swore again in that language I didn't recognize. "This is bad."

No duh, I wanted to say. But Hayden looked stressed enough trying to figure out a plan without any snarky comments from the peanut gallery.

"Maybe we should stay in the city," I suggested. "If those… _things_ can really smell us, then they won't be able to find us as easily now. Right?"

Hayden nodded, but the look in her eyes was still distant.

I wanted to say something to cheer her up, but a growl cut me off before I could.

I gulped. No way…

A block away, Mrs. Tot emerged from behind a building, her eyes still wild. She didn't have her beasts with her, but that didn't make me feel any better.

Hayden handed me her bag. "I have a knife in there," she explained without taking her eyes off Mrs. Tot. "Get it out, but stay behind me. I'm not letting you get hurt."

Mrs. Tot was closer.

"We have to get her away from the mortals," Hayden continued. "She's dangerous."

I couldn't find my voice to respond. Everything was too surreal to be happening.

We turned to run, and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest as we were face-to-face with one of the monsters.

It was easiest the scariest thing I've ever seen: a long, ugly reptile with brown and green scaly skin. Instead of normal lizard legs—whatever _those_ were supposed to be— it had chicken legs; feathers, talons, and all. Small, chicken-like wings seemed to be attached awkwardly onto its side. If that were odd or horrible enough, on its head, it had the horns like a ram. Or, at least I thought it was its head. Its long tail was the size of its neck, with another horrifying head where the end of the tail should be. It whipped side to side angrily, like it wanted a turn at being in the front.

Hayden gasped and jumped back. I (the graceful angel that I am) shrieked pathetically and stumbled back so hard I fell on my rear.

Behind us, Mrs. Tot cackled. "Did you really just try to run?"

I barely registered what she said. I had locked eyes with the monster, and was paralyzed. Its dull yellow glared made it pretty clear that it was going to eat me. Yet, for some reason, it didn't attack.

"Don't worry," Mrs. Tot said smoothly. "He won't eat you just yet. He's awaiting his brethren before ripping you to shreds. Impeccable manners." She glided over to the monster and petted its horn.

Hayden straightened her back and glared at Mrs. Tot. "What do you want with us? And where are your other little pets?" I knew that she must've been as scared as I was, but her voice rang with confidence.

I mustered the strength to finally get on my feet and break eye contact with the monster. Its cold eyes burned their way into my corneas.

My teacher tutted and shook her head in disapproval. "How long were you in my class? You know I hate to repeat myself. But my 'pets' are the, by the way. They were born when the blood of Medusa decapitated head fell to the Earth. After that they were molded by Mother Earth herself."

Shaking, I tore through Hayden's bag and pulled out her knife. It wasn't as ornamental as her axe, just a foot long black blade with the hilt wrapped in beige leather.

I wielded it weakly at the monster. It just growled and raked the concrete, tearing through it like wet clay. If the people of New York found anything odd with a standoff between two adolescent girls and a crazed middle school teacher with her pet chicken/snake monster, they didn't show it.

Hayden gulped, but stood firm. "Who are you really, then?" Hayden inquired. "Is Tot an acronym or something?"

Mrs. Tot frowned. "I guess you wouldn't know of me. I don't have many stories, after all. But no matter. You'll both be dead very soon."

She fixed me with a murderous look, like I was a screaming child who got their candy taken away by their parents. "You really thought that you could fool me? You're dumber than you look."

I wanted to scream. I grew up with kids calling me stupid or slow. I hated it. I wanted to run the monster though with the dagger and backhand Mrs. Tot, but I couldn't stop shaking. I knew I couldn't kill the thing in front of me. It would either bite me in two or slice me to ribbons with its chicken claws.

Behind me, Hayden tensed. "Kai," she whispered. "Duck."

It took me a second before I realized what she meant. I hit the ground.

Hayden swung so fast, her axe was a blur. Mrs. Tot jumped out of the way but the monster wasn't so lucky. The instant it was hit it exploded into a cloud of yellow dust.

I stared at the spot where the monster was. Mrs. Tot scowled at Hayden. Her red face and heavy breathing reminded me of old cartoons before a character blew up out of anger. Only somehow not as funny.

Hayden recomposed herself. "You're not a monster, are you?"

Mrs. Tot's scowled deepen, but otherwise she didn't speak.

"Well then," Hayden smirked. "I guess I can do _this_."

In a swift motion, she grabbed Mrs. Tot by the arm, pulled her close, and hit her square in the throat with the side of her hand.

Mrs. Tot's eyes rolled into her head, and she crumpled onto the sidewalk.

My draw dropped. "What… how…"

"She won't be out for long," Hayden said. "And more of her… _Amphisbaenae_ are coming. Let's move."

I groaned. "You know, sooner or later I want a thorough explanation."

She didn't respond as she grabbed my hand and pulled me down the street. I didn't want to do anymore cross-county races, but on the other hand I didn't want to be around when Mrs. Tot recovered her senses.

As we sprinted down the street, pedestrians either moved out of our way or mumbled something about bratty teens as we barreled past them. Strange…

"Why are people just now noticing us?" I asked.

Ahead of us, a hot dog vender and his stand carted in our way. I darted past it, but Hayden didn't seem to be fazed by it. She jumped gracefully, gliding over the counter in one clean motion, and continued her running. The hot dog vender looked surprised for a second, but then shook his head and grumbled something about pigeons.

"The Mist," she said simply, as if that explained everything.

"Miss who?"

"_Mist_," she corrected. "It's this magical veil that separates the mortal world from the world of the gods by distorting their vision to fit their perception of reality—"

"In English please!"

"I _was_ speaking English!" She grabbed my arm and turned me left.

I huffed. "In layman's terms, then."

"It makes people see what they want to see. It changed reality so they can't see what's really happening."

Okay, I thought. I wanted to argue, but Hayden suddenly came to an abrupt halt.

We were running so long that I hadn't even notice that we were on the esplanade Battery Park City.

The walkway was deserted, except for an old woman feeding some pigeons on a bench. The murky blue waters of the Hudson River glowed orange in the setting sun.

My brow knitted. "Why did we stop?"

"You'll see if a minute," Hayden said. "Just get behind me and—oh, gods."

I turned in the direction where she was looking. My jaw went slack.

The old lady on the bench wasn't feeding pigeons. They were more of the monsters, about five _Amphisbaenae_ in total. And don't ask me why creepy chicken-footed snake monsters were eating bird feed in the middle of Battery Park. This day kept making less and less sense.

"I didn't see them," I whispered. "Was that the Mist, too?"

"Yep," Hayden confirmed. "The lady must think that they're birds or something. The Mist around them must be really thick."

"This is insanity."

"Yeah, well stick around. It'll get a lot worse."

"Oh, _goody_."

The _Amphisbaenae_ swiveled the heads on their tails like they just noticed us. They growled like lions gargling gravel. The monsters sauntered over like we weren't worth the hassle of killing. One of them (the ugliest of the ugly bunch) took the lead, its eyes glowing brighter than the rest.

I lifted my knife, although I wasn't sure what I could do. Hayden grabbed her axe, and fierce determination flashed in her eyes.

The one in front unhinged its jaw and shot out something foul-smelling and orange. At first I thought it was fire, until I saw that it moved more like a cloud than fire. It moved so quickly we didn't have time to dodge it.

Then, for the umpteenth time that day, something crazy happened.

Hayden raised her free hand forward. Water spiraled out of the Hudson behind us. A liquid tentacle whipped over us, dispersing the orange cloud and grabbing the _Amphisbaenae_ that had unleashed it. In the blink of an eye, the watery lasso shot the monster over head and it flew straight into the river.

Did she just…

I looked at her incredulously. "What are you, a water bender?"

She gritted her teeth. "Nowis not the time for cartoon references!"

The remaining four _Amphisbaenae _stared behind us as if realizing their fallen comrade had just drowned in the Hudson. They returned their glares at us.

Another one approached us, and I wondered why they weren't attacking us together. Then I scolded myself for not considering us lucky.

Instead of another cool water bending trick, Hayden gripped her axe and swung, but this monster was smarter than its brethren. It hobbled back in a wacky, chicken-legged way, and lashed its tail at Hayden. She backed away in time for it to miss her legs and just snap at her skirt, ripping it. Hayden brought her axe down on its tail like a guillotine and cleaved it through the monster's belly in one swift motion. The _Amphisbaena _erupted intoa shower of sand.

Hayden flipped her axe and dug the upper corner of it into the dirt. She glared at one of the _Amphisbaenae, _mumbled something I didn't catch under her breath. Suddenly, the shadows on the esplanade elongated and the air turned colder. I had the sudden urge to run and hide in a tree. The jewel at the bottom of axe glowed with a black light.

The _Amphisbaena _that Hayden addressed turned and fled down the esplanade. The remaining two backed away nervously. For a moment, I thought that they would runaway, too, but no such luck.

One of the monsters charged at Hayden, spewing the foul orange cloud. She jumped away, but not before the orange mist hit her in the shoulder.

Hayden hissed. The cloud dissolved, but the sleeve on her shirt was rapidly dissolving. She ripped it off before it could do damage to her skin.

But the _Amphisbaena _wasn't done yet. It swung its tail, attempting to attack her again from her blindside.

"No!" I scream, temporarily distracting it. I was shaking, but I lunged myself at the monster. It shot its poisonous gas at me. Somehow, I managed to sidestep it and kept advancing.

I did the natural thing and drove the dagger straight into the monster's side.

The _Amphisbaena _exploded into dust, covering Hayden and me in a veil of nasty yellow dirt.

I recoiled. "Ah, gross!"

"You get used to it," Hayden said, wiping monster dust out of her hair and eyes.

I gagged. This was something I _definitely_ didn't want to get used to.

My heart still pounded. My mind was so fixed in replaying how I killed that monster that I hadn't even realized that there was one last monster left standing.

We stood together facing the _Amphisbaena. _It growled at us, clawing at the ground, successfully tearing it to shreds. The beast crouched like a panther ready to jump its prey. But before it could, it froze.

A glittering tip stuck out of the base of its neck before it exploded like the rest of the _Amphisbaenae_.

I stared dumbfounded at the spot where the monster was. For once, Hayden looked as surprised as I was.

"Uh…" I waved in front of us. "Should we be worried about that?"

Hayden shook her head. "I…"

The air in front of us shimmered. The shadowy image of a girl materialized in front of us, solidifying into a definite form. It was the blonde girl I saw earlier in the common room. She wore normal clothes, jeans and an orange T-shirt. In one hand she held a dagger, like the one I had; in the other hand she was clenching a blue Yankees cap.

She looked up at us; her grey eyes were startling. For a second, I thought she was going to attack us next.

The scary girl looked us over. Her eyes widened in horror at me.

"Gods," she muttered. "It got you."

I blinked. "What?" I looked down at myself and realized what she meant.

I hadn't missed being hit by the _Amphisbaena's _poisonous gas. The right side of my shirt had been eaten away. My skin underneath was blotchy and red. When I touched it, pain shot through my body. I yelped, and would have collapsed if it weren't for Hayden.

Funny how something doesn't hurt until you notice it.

The blonde girl rushed towards us. "_Amphisbaena _poison is slower than other monsters' poison, but if you're not careful…"

Hayden hefted my arm around her shoulders. "Is she going to be okay?"

The girl nodded, but her features looked grim. "Yes. But we have to leave now if we're going to get the antidote."

"You're from that camp?" Hayden asked.

"You know about the camp?"

"Only a little—"

"Hey," I interrupted. "I don't mean to be rude, but I'm starting to see black spots and I'm pretty sure that that's not good."

"Sorry," the blonde girl said and turned to Hayden. "You're good with your axe. I'll help her to a cab. Cover me in case anymore monsters show up."

Hayden didn't protest as she handed me over to her.

My head bobbed back, but I managed to stay awake. "Wha—where we going?"

The girl's hard eyes soften a degree. "To the only safe place for Demigods," she explained. "We're going to Camp Half-Blood."

* * *

Hayden managed to flag down a cab for us. We all squeezed into the back seat, with me wedged in the middle. The girl, who introduced herself as Annabeth, told the driver where to go. When he tried to protest, she folded a wad of cash into his hand. That would make almost anyone an obedient little lamb.

Once the cab was driving, Annabeth fished out a baggie of odd food, broke off a piece and handed it to me.

"Ambrosia," she explained. "It'll slow down the poison."

Magical healing food? Sure, why not? At this point I was inclined to believe anything.

I ate it, expecting it to be sweet, like a brownie or a lemon square. Instead, it tasted like garlic bread and grilled fish. The kind Mom and Dad would make when Alana and I come home on holidays. The food warmed my whole body and eased the pain in my side.

"What did it taste like?" Hayden asked, closing the glass divider between the driver and us. Her axe was back inside of her lavender bag. I guess it was like a Mary Poppins' Bag of Holding deal.

I told her what it tasted like, and she smiled. "Your dad makes awesome garlic bread."

I laughed, but as soon as I did pain shot through my side.

"Don't push yourself too much," Annabeth warned.

"Yeah," I groaned. "Laughing hurts."

We drove in silence for a while as the cab sped down the road. For the first time I noticed how exhausted scratched up Hayden looked. Even though we were driving away from the monsters, she still looked tense.

She turned and addressed Annabeth. "Why didn't you help us sooner?" she asked, although she didn't sound angry. "With your magic cap, you had the upper hand."

Annabeth twirled a ring on her necklace. I hadn't paid much attention to it before, but now I noticed that it had about a half a dozen clay beads on it.

"Cole told me that the two of you were pursued by your teacher," she started to explain. "He said that she smelled of monsters."

"Wait a second," I said. "Who's Cole? And he can smell things, too?"

"Cole's a satyr from the camp—"

"Satyr? You mean like the faun from the Chronicles of Narnia?"

"Kai," Hayden sighed, "That's a movie; this is real life."

I nodded sarcastically. "Right, this is real life. Not a medically-induced hallucination."

"Anyway," Annabeth continued, "Cole is in one of your classes. Gym, I think."

It finally dawned on me. "The small seventh grade kid."

"Right."

Hayden chimed in. "Fa—I mean Satyrs. They're searchers, right?"

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Correct."

"Then shouldn't Cole be the one escorting us to the camp?"

"You know that, but I haven't seen you at camp before."

Hayden fidgeted in her seat. "Uh, my father told me some things about it."

"Your dad?" I asked. She nodded solemnly.

"Is your dad a Half-Blood?" Annabeth asked.

"Something like that," she mumbled, twirling a strand of her hair. Her shoulders slumped, and I could tell that she wasn't going to open up about her dad again.

Annabeth must've noticed that, too, because she went on with her story. "Anyway, Cole was able to I.M. me in the bathroom outside of the theater. It looked like he busted some pipes in the wall or something. He said that he tried to follow you, but your teacher wouldn't let him leave. She got the other teachers to make sure that he couldn't.

"When I got to the auditorium, you two were already gone. I followed your teacher and managed to catch up to you guys. I would've jumped in sooner but you two were handling yourselves pretty well." She turned towards Hayden. Her eyes held respect, but also a bit of curiosity. "I've never seen a Half-blood with a weapon like that. You fight well."

Hayden's cheeks went pink. "Thanks."

She looked out the window for a quiet moment before saying, "Those monsters, the _Amphisbaenae… _they wouldn't attack us at the same time."

"Yeah, I noticed that, too." I blinked the black spots out of my eyes. "It was like they didn't know how to work together."

"_Amphisbaenae _are scavengers," Annabeth explained. "They didn't attack all at once because don't normally kill their prey."

Something about being prey made my stomach queasy.

"Then why did they try to kill us?"

"Orders from your teacher," she guessed. "She must have some sort of control over them. But, honestly, I'm not sure why she sent them after you. She must really hate you."

"Yeah," I said dryly. "I noticed that, too."

Annabeth furrowed her brow. "Did she say anything to you before she unleashed the monsters?"

I explained everything, beginning at when we left the auditorium. Hayden chimed in to add any details that I forgot to mention.

When we were done, Annabeth was silent for a beat. She turned to Hayden. "Do you know what she could have meant by her 'patron'?"

Hayden shrugged. "Not a clue."

Annabeth twisted the ring on her necklace again, deep in thought. Her grey eyes seemed troubled. "I don't think I've ever read a story about psycho teachers killing their students," she said finally. "But…"

"But what?" I inquired.

She shook her head. "It's nothing. Right now we should worry about the last _Amphisbaena _that's out there. If the monsters really were under the teacher's control, then there's no doubt that it'll come back looking for you."

Oh, great. More good news. It couldn't just run away and stay gone; no, it just _had_ to come back.

"Why did it run?" I ask Hayden. "What did you do to it?"

She looked down at her boots. I was worried that I hit a sore topic.

"In short," Hayden said, "I scared it away."

"Oh." I decided to leave it at that.

We drove the rest of the way in silence. I would have liked to ask the Annabeth girl more questions like "Who are you?" or something more subtle like "You're not taking us to your extremist cult, right?" but I was too exhausted to pay attention to any more explanations that she might give us.

I stared out the window. I was surprised at how dark it had become so quickly. The city dissolved into trees with rolling green hills, wineries, and farms. I've never been this far down long island unless it was on a fieldtrip.

My side throbbed dully. I tried not to think about the fact that I was poison and was slowly dying. My eyelids were growing heaving, and I was tempted to fall sleep, but was worried that I might…

Nah, I thought. I wasn't going to die. We were on our way to the place with the cure. I was going to be fine.

I concentrated on the road in front of us. Occasionally, I would check behind to make sure that we weren't being followed. So far so good.

The cab arrived at the bottom of a hill when Annabeth decided that right here was a good place to get out. When the cabbie insisted he could take us further, she handed him an extra fat tip, and he didn't object. The cab sped down the road, back into the city.

"Come on," Annabeth said. "Camp is just over the hill."

"We're going over it?" I asked.

"That's the idea. Hayden was it? Would you—"

A low, guttural snarl interrupted her.

A dark blob floated over the road and hills behind us. It flew on small wings too quickly than what should have been possible. The last _Amphisbaena._

I starred at the quickly approaching monster. "That thing can fly with those stumpy chicken wings?"

"Apparently so," Hayden said.

"Come on," Annabeth repeated. "We need to get past that pine tree. We'll be safe once we do."

That plan sounded better than dying, so we followed her up the hill.

The pine tree we were heading to looked a million miles away, and the _Amphisbaena _kept advancing, which, quite frankly, was pretty discouraging.

I pushed myself harder, which wasn't easy with my side burning. Running made my whole midsection feel like it was on fire. The pain shot to my eyes, causing my vision to blur. I kept moving.

The monster was closing in on us.

We were closer to the top of the hill by now. I could see the glow of whatever was behind it.

Then, I did something so stupidly dumb it'll make you hate me.

I tripped. Over a stupid rock. And I screamed like a sissy when I fell (yes, I am ashamed).

I hit the ground and got a mouthful of grass. The pain on my waist exploded tenfold. I blacked out for a second. Hayden helped me back up and let me lean on her for support.

Annabeth unsheathed he dagger. "You guys keep going," she said. "Get to the big blue house. They'll help you there."

"We can't just abandon you!" Hayden protested, and I agreed with her. If felt wrong to leave her after she did so much for us.

Annabeth frowned at us. "This isn't the time for—"

Too late.

The _Amphisbaena _was maybe fifteen feet away when it shot a plume of poisonous gas at Annabeth. She rolled out of the way and charged towards it. She went to stab it in its scaly neck, but it simply dodged and swung its tail at Annabeth. She managed to jump out of the way before it got a bite out of her.

Hayden gritted her teeth. She retrieved her axe and handed me the bag. "I'm going to help her. Don't… please don't die." And with that she jumped into the fight, slashing at the monster.

I stared in terrifying awe as the two took on the final monster. This one seemed larger and smarter than the others (of course the final boss had to be the biggest and the baddest). Watching it dodge their combined attacks, I had the horrible feeling that these things actually _learn _from its mistakes.

I felt like a loser not being able to help them at all. My best friend and a total stranger were risking their lives fighting this thing and I was powerless to help. I felt awful.

My knees buckled, and I (again) collapsed onto the grass. I was losing energy and fast. My head dipped as I struggled to stay awake. I remembered the food that Annabeth gave me, and excitedly started to search through Hayden's bag for it, but no avail.

I decided that I wasn't just going to watch Hayden and Annabeth fight; I was going to at least try to get help.

Shakily, I stood—ignoring the pain— and trekked up the hill. I passed the pine and notice a glittering gold rug that hung low on the branches, and the pile of cables wrapped around the base of the tree.

Below the top of the summit was dark, but I saw the big blue house that Annabeth had mentioned. I smiled, in spite of the pain.

I took a step and heard a terrified scream.

I was too slow to turn and see who it was. Pain clawed its way into my back, and I was violently shoved down the hill. The last thing I remember before blacking out was tumbling down the side of the hill, gasping for air.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **To answer 123percabeth's question: yes, Percy will be in this next chapter. However it's a tad brief. But do not fear, he will get more and more screen time later on. I guess you could call it that, since I'm sure all of you are reading this on a phone/computer/tablet of some sort. I'd also like to thank TheGirlThatHides for alerting me to the problems that chapter 3 has. Hopefully, you all can read it now. But enough of my rambling, on with the show!

* * *

When I come to, I was in a bed in a white room.

At first, I had no idea where I was. Then I remembered: the _Amphisbaenae_, and the fight on the hill. I was poisoned. And Hayden and that Annabeth girl …

My gut twisted. Where were they now?

I sat up on the plush bed. Surprisingly, moving wasn't painful, and I didn't feel like I was dying of poison anymore.

I jumped when a voice said next to me, "Oh good. You're up,"

A sandy haired boy was sitting on a chair next to my bed. He wore an orange shirt, like Annabeth's, and was reading a copy of the _Rolling Stone_ that looked like it was published in the 1970's.

"Where am I?" I asked. My mouth tasted like tin foil.

"You're in the infirmary," the boy said, closing the magazine. "You got here sometime last night. Chiron and I were able to heal your scars and the poison that was in you."

I stared at him, grateful and a little curious as to how he was able to cure monster poison. "Thanks."

"No problem."

"Who's Chiron?"

"He's the camp director," he said simply. "Annabeth will want to know that you're up."

"Are Annabeth and Hayden okay?" I asked.

"They're both perfectly fine."

I sighed in relief.

"I better let Annabeth explains everything to you, though," the boy continued, getting up. "I'm Will, by the way."

"Kai."

"Welcome to camp."

After Will left the room, I eased myself out of bed. The side where the _Amphisbaena _poison hit me throbbed a bit, but otherwise didn't hurt much. I stretched and noticed that I still had my damaged uniform shirt on, so a big chunk of my waist was exposed. My skin was back to normal, but I didn't feel like walking around all day with a big hole in my shirt. The rips in the back of my shirt from where the _Amphisbaena_ attacked me were probably equally as embarrassing.

"You look better," a girl's voice said.

Annabeth stood by the door. She held an orange T-shirt in one hand and a water bottle filled with apple juice in the other.

"I feel like I was hit by a car last night," I admitted. "But yeah, I feel better."

"That's good." She handed me a shirt and the bottle of apple juice. "This will help perk you up. Just don't drink all of it in one go."

I stared at the bottle in my hand. "Magical apple juice?"

Annabeth cracked a small smile. "Maybe."

"Maybe?" That didn't sound promising, but I took a tentative sip. I recoiled at the taste; it didn't taste like apple juice.

"So how is it?" Annabeth asked.

"It tastes like burnt pizza with a Chinese food after taste."

She looked genuinely confused, which I'm guessing was a foreign expression on her face. "That's nectar. It's supposed to taste like warm memories."

"Oh!" Suddenly it dawned on me. "When my sister and I were eight, we tried to make breakfast for our parents, but we didn't know how to cook, so we put a frozen pizza in the oven on, like, a million degrees. We ended up in an argument over something and forgot about the pizza. Long story short: the pizza tasted like dirt so my parents ended up ordering Chinese." My heart warmed at the memory. I hadn't thought about that day in years.

"So you ate Chinese food for breakfast?" Annabeth asked, bemused.

I shrugged. "My family is weird."

"Then you'll fit right it. Go change, and I'll give you the grand tour."

* * *

If I had to use only one word to describe Camp Half-Blood, I'd used "whoa."

There was a strawberry field, a huge forest surrounding the camp, and the glittering expanse of the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Cabins were here like a normal summer camp, sure, but they looked like they fell straight out of the Twilight Zone, each one more bizarre than the last. Two of them looked like his-and-hers bank buildings. One looked like a Vegas-style casino, another like a factory with brick walls and chimneys. They were arranged in a rectangle around a central fire.

We passed by a building that looked like a hodgepodge of one of those old timey trains and an ancient Greek temple.

"That's the arts and craft building," Annabeth explained. "Campers can build their own statues, swords, whatever you can think of."

I stopped in my tracks. "We're allowed to make _swords_?"

"Some campers do. Others get… hand-me-downs I'd guess you'd call them."

Hand-me-down melee weapons? I decided to leave it at that.

Campers raced in sail boats on a huge lake. A few others were climbing a rock wall, and unless I was crazy, it looked like it was shaking violently and pouring lava. I nearly jumped out of my skin when a rider on a winged horse (a Pegasus, Annabeth called it) swooped over head, flying a little too low for comfort.

Annabeth was a good tour guide. She showed me to the stables, the commons area, and the amphitheater, to name a few. She explained that Camp Half-Blood was mostly a summer camp, though some campers chose to stay all year. Her tone was calm and collected, no doubt trying to ease me into the weirdness, which wasn't easy to do. By the end of the tour my mind was reeling from all the information.

We ended up back by the strawberry fields and decided to sit and take a break. When the air blew it made the whole area smell fresh and sweet.

I stared at the camp alive with activity. My expression must have been troubling because Annabeth put a hand on my shoulder. "I know it's a lot of information to process," she said. "We've all been there."

"I don't get it," I admitted. "What's all this about?"

She sighed, like she was used to explaining this, but was never really excited about it. "Let me ask you a few things, okay?"

"Sure."

"You mentioned your parents before," she said carefully. "Is one of them your step-parent?"

I bit back a snide remark. A lot of the time, people that I've met couldn't believe that my dad was really _my_ _dad_. Every time they said "Really? I had no clue" it made me angry. They never said it, but I knew that they thought that I looked too dark to be half-white, half-native Hawaiian. Unlike Alana and Max, who were the perfect blend of both our parents, I took after Mom more; my hair was dark brown and my facial features were similar to hers. The only thing I got from my dad were his blue eye, and barely. My eyes were a mix of green and blue, like they couldn't determine what color they wanted to be.

But Annabeth had never met my parents. She didn't know what they looked like, and I knew it was stupid to get mad.

"No," I said. "They're both my real parents."

"Are you positive?" Annabeth asked. "Have they ever said anything to you about it?"

"I'm sure," I said. "I have a sister."

"Is she younger or older?"

"Fraternal twin." I took one last sip of my nectar. This time, it tasted more like sweet-and-sour pork than burnt pepperoni.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I've never heard of something like that. You'll have to talk to Chiron."

"The camp director? Why doesn't this Chiron guy explain all of this to me?"

"He's busy talking to your friend, Hayden. She said that there were things she wanted to sort out."

"What did she want to talk about?" I asked.

"I'm not sure" Annabeth said. "Last night she was shaken up after you were attacked by the _Amphisbaena_. I could tell she was worried about you; this is the least I could do." I got the feeling she wasn't just talking about the tour.

"What do you mean?"

"Kaia," she said. There was a cautious edge to her voice. "Do you know about the Greek gods?"

I was confused, but I nodded. "Zeus, Aphrodite, Hades. You mean those old myths?"

Thunder rolled off the Long Island shore. I glanced up at the sky, but it was perfectly clear. Weird.

"Be careful, Kaia," Annabeth warned. "Names have power. But you're right. Do you know the stories about some of them having kids with mortals?"

"Like Hercules and Theseus?"

"Yes." She paused for a moment, and I wondered where she was going with this.

Finally she said, "The ancient Greek myths are all real. The gods are still around, and they have children with mortals; demigods. That's what we are. Who _you_ are."

I kept waiting for her to yell "_Psyche!_" and pie me in the face or something. But her face was completely serious.

"Hold on," I said. "You're saying that everyone here is a half-god or something?"

"Half-_blood_," Annabeth corrected. "Or demigod, but not everyone. Some of the campers are Satyrs, like Cole, or nymphs."

I let this sink in. Gods, half-bloods. Satyrs and nymphs? It was all too ridiculous to believe. Still, a nagging voice in the back of my head was totally convinced. Did I believe in monsters? Sure, I've seen enough proof to believe that, but gods?

"I have both of my parents," I said. "I have a twin. If I'm a half-blood, why isn't she here, too?"

"Cole would have been able to smell if she were a demigod," Annabeth said. "Satyrs have sharp noses and don't usually make mistakes."

"But how can _I_ be a half-blood?"

Annabeth looked down at the field, in deep thought. "I don't know. But we'll find out. Who knows, maybe your godly parent will claim you tonight."

"Maybe," I grumbled.

"You belong here, Kaia," she said encouragingly.

I twisted the water bottle; the crinkling noise was drowned out by the wind. "How can you know that?"

"Because I know _you_." Annabeth said that like she had said that line many times. "You probably have ADHD or dyslexia or both, right?"

I stared at her. "How'd you know?"

"We're all like that," she said. "A lot of us have been kicked out of multiple schools, too. My boyfriend, Percy—" Her cheeks went pink. "Well, he's been kicked out of a lot of schools. He once shot a Civil War canon at his school bus on a field trip."

I laughed, which helped lessen my confusion and worry a bit. I could tell that Annabeth was at least trying to cheer me up, and I appreciated that.

Annabeth got up and dusted grass off of her pants. "I got an idea," she announced. "Come with me."

I stood. "Where're we going?"

She grinned mischievously. "I'm taking you sword shopping."

* * *

As we walked to her cabin's armory, Annabeth told me that as a female demigod, I had the option of joining the Hunters of Artemis: an immortal band of female archers that followed the goddess around the country hunting monsters and game alike. It sounded like a pretty sweet deal, except for one little thing.

"No dating boys ever?" I asked. "Not even a little?"

She answered affirmative, and I decided to take a rain check on that.

Annabeth's cabin wasn't as showy as the other cabins, just a modest-looking gold and blue building with an owl carving at the top.

"The owl is a symbol of Athena, right?" I asked.

Annabeth nodded proudly. "Correct."

We headed to the side of the cabin to a gardening shed, but instead of hoes, rakes, and shovels, it held spears, swords, and—

"Is that a gun," I asked, pointing.

Annabeth glanced at it like it was no big deal. "Yeah, but I don't think a pistol is really your style."

"Agreed."

"All demigods need a weapon," she told me. "Most of us have swords. Some of us use spears."

"You use a knife," I pointed out.

She pursed her lips. "I don't know. Swords are better because they have a longer reach. With a knife, you have to be quick."

I thought about the monster I killed last night. Sure I had killed it with Hayden's dagger, but I hadn't been swift enough and I got poisoned. Some distance via a sword would've been nice.

"You're right," I said, and started to browse through the weapons. I looked pasted the spears; I doubted I would be able to use it effectively, and besides I'd rather have a weapon I could swing like a club. It felt more secure.

I picked up a sword with a curved blade that was heavy in my hand. I put it back and continued searching. A sword caught my attention from the corner of my eye. Curious, I picked it up and almost had a hernia.

"Why is this one pink?" I demanded. The sword's sheath was bright Barbie pink, decorated with little hearts and stars. I pulled it out and the blade was the same bronze as Annabeth's knife, but I could've sworn it had a faint pink aura around it. The pink leather grip was also embedded with heart designs. It was burning through my corneas.

Annabeth stared at it, equally dumbfounded as I was. "I have no idea. Maybe it was from the Aphrodite cabin."

I shivered. "After this, I'm burying that." I hid it from the sun light behind a bunch of other swords and spears.

Something nicked the back of my hand and I hissed. I looked for the culprit and found one sword that didn't have a sheath. I grabbed it and tried it out. Surprisingly, it felt perfect in my hands. Not too heavy, not too light.

"This one," I murmured. "I like this one."

Annabeth stared at the sword unfavorably, though the sword looked normal enough. It was a classic Greek sword, with a small wave design carved on the blade. Something shiny and blood red was embedded into the flat pommel; I recognized it as sea glass. Greek writing was sloppily etched onto the cross guard. I was startled to find that I could read it easily: one side read _fury_, the other _waves_.

"I'm not so sure," Annabeth said. "I know this sword. It was owned by pirates. There's a bad history behind it."

"It doesn't look like a pirate sword," I said, drawing from less than subpar knowledge of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

"A lot of pirates were demigods, like Blackbeard, the son of Ares. They all had swords similar to this one." She pointed to the sword I was holding. "However, the Mist might have changed how mortals saw them, aligning the sword's image to the standard pirate sword of the day."

"Oh," I said. I was still weirded out with the whole Mist thing. "So this place will just let crazed fourteen year olds carry swords."

"You'll be trained."

"Trained?"

"To fight monsters," Annabeth said. "They'll continue to come after you, and it'll be much worse that last night."

I was poisoned my giant snake-chicken monster and was on the verge of death. I didn't really want to think about what could be worse than that.

Annabeth continued, "Once you know who you are, it'll be easier for _them _to know. We have to fight monsters so we can survive in the mortal world. That's what all of this is for."

All of this.

I looked at the camp around me. The climbing wall, canoeing, Pegasi riding, sword training, Greek mythology; all of these crazy amazing things around me were going to teach me how to survive? The idea was so bizarre, I couldn't really comprehend it. But Annabeth explained everything with such conviction that I couldn't help but think that she may be right.

"You can leave your sword here in the shed," Annabeth said. "At least until your determined and have your own chest."

"Determined?" I asked.

"It means that we know who your godly parent is. Since we're not sure, you're undetermined for know."

So many questions bonked around in my head until I was torn out of my thoughts by a boy's voice.

"Annabeth!"

We turned. Two dark haired boys headed our way from across the green. Annabeth regarded the shorter boy quizzically before looking at the other. She smiled so warmly, I thought that the taller boy had to be her boyfriend, Percy.

When the pair got to us, the taller boy grabbed Annabeth by the hand and kissed her on the cheek. "Hey," he said. "I heard what happened. You all right?"

"I'm fine," Annabeth said. "We're taking a tour through camp."

She motioned to me, and the guy looked as though he hadn't noticed me standing there before. He had bright sea green eyes with a care free look that I found strangely familiar. "Percy," Annabeth said, "this is Kaia. Kaia, Percy and Nico."

The shorter boy extended his hand towards me. "Nico di Angelo."

"Hi," I said, and my heart skipped a beat.

Unlike the other campers who wore orange T-shirts, Nico wore a black shirt with dancing skeletons instead. What was once probably olive skin looked ghostly and pale; and his hair was adorably messy.

And God, he was cute.

I realized that my mouth was hanging open like a doofus. He was giving me an expecting look. My ears burned.

"K-Kaia." I shook his hand; it was as cold as ice. "But you know that. You can call me Kai if you want or whatever."

_Smooth._

Percy smiled. "Hey, welcome to camp,"

"Thanks."

He glanced down at the sword in my hand, which I was pointing it haphazardly in his direction. I almost forgot that I was holding it.

"Sorry!" I stabbed the sword into the dirt. "There, that's safer, sorta."

They all raised an eyebrow at me, but recovered just as quickly.

"So Nico," Annabeth said after a beat, "I'm surprised to see you here."

"I'm actually only staying for awhile," he said. "I'll be leaving next week."

"Really?" Percy asked. "Where are you going to go?"

Nico shifted on his feet. "I'm going go to the Underworld to see my dad. Check out a few cemeteries. The usual." He didn't meet Percy's eyes. I got the feeling he was going to do more than he let on, but it was none of my business.

"Oh, okay." Percy sounded crestfallen, like he didn't want Nico out by himself, but also like that's what he came to expect. "Well, I'm glad you decided to come. You'll be here for Capture the Flag."

I blinked. "Capture the Flag? Is this normal Capture the Flag? Or some extreme Ninja Warrior type Capture the Flag?"

Percy laughed. "I guess you could say it's the second one."

"Should I be nervous?"

"Not really," Nico said. "Hardly anyone dies."

I looked at him. "Don't say it like that. That's somehow worse."

"You'll be fine," Percy assured me. "Tell you what; you can be on my team and I'll help you out. Who's your godly parent?"

"She's an undetermined, Percy," Annabeth said gently.

Percy's brow furrowed. "Really? How old are you?"

"Fourteen," I said. "Why?"

"The gods were supposed to claim their children by the time they're thirteen. That was the deal that was made." He sounded pretty miffed.

"What deal?"

"Don't worry," Annabeth said to both of us. "With luck, Kaia will be claimed by tonight."

"Yeah," I said, trying to sound upbeat. "That's great."

Annabeth put a hand on Percy's shoulder. "I'm taking her to see Chiron. See you at lunch?"

Percy grinned. "It's a date."

He kissed her again, and I couldn't help but notice Nico wincing, as if he had been slapped.

* * *

The big house was a huge four story farm house painted baby blue that was right across from the volleyball court. On the porch, a girl and two men were playing cards at a table. One of the men was in a wheelchair with a blanket over his lap. He had brown hair, a scruffy beard, and wore a brown tweed jacket. The other man was smaller but portlier with a loud Hawaiian shirt with some kind of animal print. A satyr stood beside him, nervously offering a bowl of grapes whenever the man beckoned with a wave of his hand. I tried not to stare at his furry lower goat half, but I couldn't help it.

(I know, I know; I'm rude. But what was _your _reaction when you saw your first full-blown satyr?)

I wondered why the satyr didn't sit in the extra chair. Then I noticed a pair of cards floated eye-level above the table, like they were being held by an invisible card player.

_Um… sure?_

"Hayden!" I said, trying to take in all the weirdness.

She looked up from her cards and grinned. "Hey, Kai." She wore the same orange T-shirt that Annabeth had given me along with a fresh new pair of jeans.

"Chiron," Annabeth said, motioning with her hand to point out who was who, "this is Kaia; Kaia, Chiron. And this is Mr. D."

"Hello," I said.

The man in the wheelchair, Chiron, smiled at me. "I suppose it's a tad bit late, but welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Kaia."

The pudgier guy, Mr. D, snorted and tossed some game chips into the center of the table.

"Mr. D," Chiron said patiently.

"Oh, very well," Mr. D sighed, not looking up from his cards. "Welcome, welcome. Words cannot express how happy I am that you've arrived safely. There, happy?"

Words could not express the amount of sarcasm in his greeting.

"Uh, thank you?" I said.

He glared at me with blood shot eyes. His face was fat and puffy like a baby, although not nearly as cute.

"That sounded disingenuous," he retorted.

"I assure you that it wasn't."

Mr. D looked at me for a second, before rolling his eyes and returning to his game.

"You must excuse Mr. D," Chiron said. "I'm afraid I put him in a rather bad mood from winning three games in a row."

Mr. D grunted and reached for the bowl of grapes, making the satyr flinch.

"But no matter," Chiron continued. "From what I've heard you've been through quite a rough night."

I wasn't sure what to say. Do I shrug it off and pretend like it was no big deal, or do I tell the truth, that I was utterly scared out of my mind?

Chiron inclined his head in understanding. "I assumed that Annabeth has explained everything to you?"

"She did, but…"

"Let me guess," Mr. D chimed in, "another little nonbeliever?"

There was a dangerous edge to his tone of voice that made me hesitate answering his question. The satyr shook his head at me, his eyes warning me to stay quiet.

"I can assure you," Chiron said, "that the gods—the ancient Greek gods—are very real." He sat down his playing cards, jotted down some numbers on a legal pad, and grinned. "I believe the game is mine."

Hayden and Mr. D groaned in unison. The invisible hands let go of the cards, dropping them onto the table like they had a bit of an attitude.

"You're too good at this, lord Chiron!" Hayden said.

Chiron's eyes twinkled mysteriously. "Well, I've had plenty of years to practice, my dear."

Mr. D mumbled something under his breath about cheating horse men. I had no clue what that meant, but I didn't question it.

"Chiron," Annabeth said. "I have to go teach Ancient Greek lessons. Would you mind taking over for me?"

"Not at all, Annabeth," he said.

She regarded me. "Don't worry," she said simply, as if those two words conveyed everything she wanted to say. Annabeth inclined her head in Hayden's direction before jogging off the porch and down the yard.

Chiron turned to me and smiled. "Sit, child. We have much to discuss."

I looked to Hayden, who nodded at me reassuringly. I sat down cautiously, wondering if I was sitting on the invisible player. The chair felt like a chair and not a stranger's lap, so I relaxed a bit.

"Katie, was it?" Mr. D asked. He was shuffling the playing cards in his hands.

I frowned. "It's Kaia, actually."

He waved away my response. "Whatever. Can you play pinochle?"

"A little." I said. "Why?"

"Because we need a fourth player," he said, matter-of-factly, passing cards around the table.

"Oh, okay."

We played pinochle for a while in an uncomfortable silence. I knew the rules from years of playing with Nana and Alana since we were nine. So far, I thought I was doing pretty well.

Eventually, I had to break the tension. I figured Chiron could answer some of my questions. "So, Mr. Chiron."

Chiron smiled. "No need for formalities, dear."

"Right." I fidgeted in my seat.

"I know this all can be hard to except," Chiron said, as if he could read my mind. "Gods aren't always easy to believe in."

I laughed dryly. "I can believe that."

Mr. D grunted indignantly. The Satyr behind him looked pale.

"Kai," Hayden said. "Mr. D _is_ a god. You might want to be less…snarky."

I looked at the pudgy man in the tasteless Hawaiian shirt. _He _was a god?

Mr. D glared at me. "If I were you, girl, I'd listen to your friend. She has some sense."

For an instant, I could've sworn that a purplish fire glowed in his eyes. I couldn't explain it, but a nervous sensation trickled down my spine. God or no god, I didn't want to make this guy mad.

I gulped and mumbled an apology, but Mr. D didn't really seem to care.

"So, Chiron," I tried again, "Hayden and I won't have to stay long, right? What about my parents? What do they think happened to us?"

Chiron rearranged the card in his hands. "It was a simple matter of a phone call. Hayden supplied the telephone numbers, and I called to inform both your school and your parents that the two of you were recruited to tour a private school for, well, gifted students."

"And they believed a crazy lie like that?"

"Of course," he said as if it were no big deal. "The Mist can fool people into believing and excepting almost anything."

"Of course it can," I muttered.

"It'll all make more sense in due time," Chiron said. "Most heroes are skeptical when they first learn of the gods."

"But I have both of my parents and a twin."

Chiron looked confused, but not as much as I expected.

I told him the same story that I told Annabeth. The kind older man listened intently, stroking his beard and nodding every once in a while.

When I was done, Chiron was quiet for a moment. His brows were furrowed, as if contemplating something I said. "Your story sounds familiar."

I frowned. "Seriously? How?"

"The hero Heracles—you probably know him by his Roman name, Hercules—he also had a twin brother, Iphicles, who was not a child of Zeus."

"How is that…?" I shook my head. "Never mind. I don't wanna know."

Chiron chuckled. "That is probably for the best. The gods tend to have, ah, unusual escapades. No offense, Mr. D."

Mr. D shrugged. "None taken. I can't say that you're wrong."

I shivered, and decided not to think too deeply about it.

"So is that the case?" I asked. "One of my parents is not really my parent?"

"Sadly, that seems to be the case," Chiron confirmed.

I swallowed and stared at the game chips in the center of the table. I didn't know whether I believed in all this god business or not, but being told that one of my parents wasn't really my parent with such certainty put a bad taste in my mouth.

"In any case," Chiron continued, "we will get you situated into your cabin as soon as Argus comes back from your school with your belongings."

"What about Hayden?" I turned to her. "Annabeth said you stayed behind to talk to Chiron. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry." She was staring at her cards, probably to avoid looking me in the eye. "I'll explain it later, okay?"

I didn't understand what was so bad that she couldn't tell me. It rubbed salt into the wound to know that she was keeping another secret from me.

Chiron placed his cards on the table and put a hand on my shoulder. "I can't guarantee much, I'm afraid. But know that this camp is safe. Trust in the training and in time, believing will come."

I didn't believe it, but I said okay anyway.

A kind light twinkled in Chiron's eye. He flipped his cards around and tallied up his points on is notepad. "It seems that I've won again."

We played Pinochle for a while after that. And each time we got our butts kicked by Chiron.

Argus and two other satyrs came back with our stuff around late afternoon. I was told that outside food wasn't allowed into camp, but Argus saved my "mortal money." He handed it to me in an envelope and winked the eye on his chin.

Oh, by the way, Argus had a hundred eyes all over his body. Chiron had warned me, but I was still pretty shocked. I hoped he didn't notice me staring at the eyeballs on his feet (but I'm pretty sure he had).

One of the satyrs escorted me to the Hermes cabin. I hoped that Hayden would come, at least to see me off, but she stayed behind so Mr. D could teach her the "art of Pac-Man". I got the feeling that something was up, but I didn't say anything. The satyr carted me away before I could tell the story of how Pac-Man got its name (a funny anecdote I heard from my uncle. Apparently the satyr knew, too).

"Mr. D is a _huge_ Pac-Man fan," he said nervously. "I don't want to see him change you into a dolphin for upsetting him."

"Can't have that," I said.

The satyr took me to the only normal looking cabin at camp. It was a simple wooden cabin, nothing flashy. It looked beaten up and lived in. I got the feeling a lot of campers have been in and out of here.

"The snakes on the pole with wings," I said, pointing at the symbol above the door. "Isn't that the symbol of Hernia? No! Hermit?"

The satyr frowned. "It's _Hermes_, but yes. The symbol is called a caduceus."

He dumped—I mean _left_—me with the head counselors of the cabin. The two boys, who introduced themselves as Travis and Connor Stoll, looked so alike I mistook them for twins. They were snarky fast-talkers who looked like trouble makers. In other words, they were my kind of guys.

My other cabin mates were pretty cool, too. They didn't seem like my presence was bothering them much. Most of them had similar features—pointy ears, eyebrows that gave that "oh, _really_?" expression— that made me think for a moment that maybe they all _were _brothers and sisters.

All the bunks were full, so I had to share the floor with a few other kids. I plopped my box of belongings and new sleeping bag onto my own little section of the floor and hid my money in my shoe. I didn't know much about Hermes, but I think I've heard about him taking a liking to stealing. I didn't think that those kinds of traits could be passed on, but I wasn't taking any chances.

All of my cabin mates hung around talking and palling around with each other. I wasn't a shy type, but I wasn't too eager to socialize yet. Right then, I just wanted to let the day settle in.

Was this my new life from now? Sleeping on the floor, training to fight monsters and being taught about gods as if they existed. Would I be able to leave? Would I get to see my family again?

Of course I'd get to leave and see my family again. Annabeth said that some campers only visited camp in the summer. I would get claimed or whatever and I'd be able to get back to my old life. No part of me intended on staying at camp permanently.

Looking back, my hopes were stupidly optimistic.

* * *

Dinner was held in the open pavilion next to the beach. Every once in a while, a breeze came through and carried the crisp salt-water smell with it. Like the cabins, the tables were sectioned off by campers' godly parent, which explained why some tables were more crowded than others. To my surprise, I saw Mr. D at a table with a few satyrs, and a blonde boy and a girl who looked about ten years old.

In front, Chiron sat on a horse behind a table on a raised section. No, he wasn't on a horse, he _was_ the horse. From the waist up he was a middle aged guy, but waist down he was a white stallion. The sight was so jarring that I forgot to breath.

Chiron was talking calmly to Hayden, who looked pretty nervous. She kept glancing at the other campers who seemed to take notice of her right away.

A kid from the Hermes cabin said to me, "Hey, she's your friend, right?"

"Yes," I said.

"Why does she get to sit up there with Chiron?"

I said that I didn't know. The Hermes kid rolled their eyes. Apparently didn't give a suffice answer.

The Hermes table was more packed than the other tables. We had to squeeze in on the bench like a pack of sardines.

When it looked like the entire camp was there, Chiron pounded his hoof on the table. Immediately, everyone went silent.

Chiron raised his goblet. "To the gods!"

Everyone repeated the cheer. I was a bit late in the cheer and my table mates ending up ribbing me about it.

My goblet was empty, but Connor (or Travis. It couldn't tell them apart yet) told me to ask it for any drink I wanted. I figured there was no harm in trying. "Dr. Pepper."

Instantly, the brown liquid filled my cup.

I grinned and took a sip. The taste was sharper than ordinary Dr. Pepper, but that made it taste all the more great.

Girls in Ancient Greek dresses came up with trays and trays of the most delicious looking food I ever saw: fresh fruits and vegetables, barbeque brisket, pizza, freshly baked bread, you name it, it was here.

My stomach growled in anticipation. I loaded my plate up with a little bit of everything.

Suddenly, everyone took their plates and went towards the brazier of fire that sat in the center. Travis (or Connor) said that at each meal we burned a portion of our food to honor the gods. Apparently the gods liked the smell of burning food. I went along with it; when in Rome, or Greece I guess.

Everyone said a little prayer or the name of their godly parent before scraping in the juiciest parts of their dinner. I thought of what to say, but before I could it was my turn.

I cleared my throat. "To, ah, to whom it may concern: here." I scraped some fruit and barbecue into the fire. A fresh scent caught me by surprise. The smell of wild flowers, an ocean breeze, and a dozen different foods that should smell pretty gross together but didn't floated to the sky on a trail of smoke.

Dinner, of course, was great. I got along well with my cabin mates; we swapped prank stories and joked around with each other.

Every once in a while I'd glance over to Hayden who seemed to be doing better. She was talking to Chiron and seemed to be more at eased with herself.

I noticed Nico and Percy were sitting at their own individual tables. I frowned. They looked lonely, sectioned off from the rest of camp. I wondered why the tables were divided up like the cabins. It didn't seem fair.

About halfway through dinner, a boy at my table was claimed. I almost missed bowing to him with the rest of camp because I was staring at the glowing green and gold wheel of fortune (the symbol of Tyche) that spun over his head, occasionally setting off miniature fireworks before it faded.

When dinner was over, Chiron raised his hand for silence.

Mr. D stood up at his table. He sighed. "Once again, hello to all you brats—I mean campers. I guess I should welcome our two new campers, Katie Fawcett and Haley Kasuboski. And I suppose some of you are wondering why one of them is sitting with Chiron tonight."

He picked up his goblet, and took a nice long sip from it. He casually swished his drink around in his cup as if he had forgotten that he had an audience, or he simply didn't care.

Mr. D looked up at us in dull surprise. "Oh, well, I suppose Chiron will explain."

He sat back in his seat, and I wasn't sure if we were supposed to clap or not.

Chiron cleared his throat. "Thank you, Mr. D. I know some of you are already aware of Kaia and Hayden's rather sporadic arrival last night, though I suppose I should get right to what I know you're all wondering. Hayden sits with me because her divine parent, Lady Thetis, goddess of water, does not have a table nor a cabin built. Construction will go up tomorrow. Until then, Hayden will stay at cabin thirteen."

In that moment, pandemonium broke loose. Everyone was asking a million questions all at once. I looked around at everyone. What was so bad about cabin thirteen?

Through the commotion, I caught Nico's reaction. His mouth hung open almost comically, but he looked just as shocked as everyone else.

Chiron's voice cut above the noise. "Calm, campers, calm. Hayden is merely a descendent of Lord Hades, the first legacy in several years. There is no need for alarm."

That seemed to calm everyone down a bit, but Hayden still looked uncomfortable with everyone's attention directed at her. After a beat, the camp settled into quiet murmurs.

Chiron forced a smiled. "All right then. That's enough excitement for one meal. I think I speak for everyone when I say it's time for s'mores."

* * *

Strangely enough, the campfire was the strangest part of the day (okay, it was in the top five). The fire was not only was huge, but it changed colors to reflect the camp's overall mood. At first it started out as a dim purple, then turned into a surreal shade of gold. Like the cabins and the tables, campers were grouped together under banners representing various gods.

In the beginning, everyone wanted to talk to Hayden about her "special situation". She gave them all very short, very vague answers. Luckily, I was able to save her from her adoring crowd and we were able to sit together.

Nico, who was also in the Hades cabin, sat with us, but was quiet for the entire time. He stared solemnly into the flames, the colors danced in the reflection of his eyes.

Some kids with guitars and lyres led the entire camp in a cheesy song about all the monsters on a farm. The cheery mood was rather infectious and I found myself singing along, even though I didn't know the words. Hayden looked quite embarrassed of me. I was glad to spend some time with her since coming to Camp Half-blood. I could pretend everything was normal, that we were at a normal summer camp. That everything was normal.

After the last song, Chiron came forward wishing everyone a good night and dismissed us all to our respective cabins.

Before we cleared out, I was able to talk to Hayden one last time. "Hey, I wanna talk for real, okay?"

She looked unsure about it, but nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, you bet."

She shuffled to the glowing green fires of cabin thirteen along with Nico. I wasn't sure who looked the most uncomfortable.

It was lights out in the Hermes's cabin, but a few of my cabin mates stayed up and were whispering to each other.

I lay awake in my sleeping bag, unable to fall asleep. I was tempted to get my stuffed Panda bear, Chalk, out of my box to use as a pillow, but didn't want to deal with the taunting I would get in the morning.

The day kept replaying in my mind. Monsters, gods, demigods; I didn't really belong here, but everyone I met today acted like being here was perfectly normal; like monsters were an everyday occurrence and the existence Greek gods were a matter of fact.

Then again, maybe they were all crazy.

But as much as I felt that I was in a foreign land, I didn't really feel out of place. Not quite at home, but I wasn't a fish out of water either. A small part of me did believe that everyone was telling the truth; that the gods were real.

Maybe _I _was the crazy one.

_Go with the flow,_ my dad once told me. It was part of his "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" philosophy. Dad has never given me wrong advice before, so I figured, what the heck? I'll play along until this all blows over.

Slowly, my cabin grew silent until all I could hear were the growls from monsters in the woods, the sound of waves lapping against the shore of the beach, and the occasional snoring from someone in my cabin. My eyelids grew heavy as I started to follow the cabin's example.

When I come to, I was in a bed in a white room.

At first, I had no idea where I was. Then I remembered: the _Amphisbaenae_, and the fight on the hill. I was poisoned. And Hayden and that Annabeth girl …

My gut twisted. Where were they now?

I sat up on the plush bed. Surprisingly, moving wasn't painful, and I didn't feel like I was dying of poison anymore.

I jumped when a voice said next to me, "Oh good. You're up,"

A sandy haired boy was sitting on a chair next to my bed. He wore an orange shirt, like Annabeth's, and was reading a copy of the _Rolling Stone_ that looked like it was published in the 1970's.

"Where am I?" I asked. My mouth tasted like tin foil.

"You're in the infirmary," the boy said, closing the magazine. "You got here sometime last night. Chiron and I were able to heal your scars and the poison that was in you."

I stared at him, grateful and a little curious as to how he was able to cure monster poison. "Thanks."

"No problem."

"Who's Chiron?"

"He's the camp director," he said simply. "Annabeth will want to know that you're up."

"Are Annabeth and Hayden okay?" I asked.

"They're both perfectly fine."

I sighed in relief.

"I better let Annabeth explains everything to you, though," the boy continued, getting up. "I'm Will, by the way."

"Kai."

"Welcome to camp."

After Will left the room, I eased myself out of bed. The side where the _Amphisbaena _poison hit me throbbed a bit, but otherwise didn't hurt much. I stretched and noticed that I still had my damaged uniform shirt on, so a big chunk of my waist was exposed. My skin was back to normal, but I didn't feel like walking around all day with a big hole in my shirt. The rips in the back of my shirt from where the _Amphisbaena_ attacked me were probably equally as embarrassing.

"You look better," a girl's voice said.

Annabeth stood by the door. She held an orange T-shirt in one hand and a water bottle filled with apple juice in the other.

"I feel like I was hit by a car last night," I admitted. "But yeah, I feel better."

"That's good." She handed me a shirt and the bottle of apple juice. "This will help perk you up. Just don't drink all of it in one go."

I stared at the bottle in my hand. "Magical apple juice?"

Annabeth cracked a small smile. "Maybe."

"Maybe?" That didn't sound promising, but I took a tentative sip. I recoiled at the taste; it didn't taste like apple juice.

"So how is it?" Annabeth asked.

"It tastes like burnt pizza with a Chinese food after taste."

She looked genuinely confused, which I'm guessing was a foreign expression on her face. "That's nectar. It's supposed to taste like warm memories."

"Oh!" Suddenly it dawned on me. "When my sister and I were eight, we tried to make breakfast for our parents, but we didn't know how to cook, so we put a frozen pizza in the oven on, like, a million degrees. We ended up in an argument over something and forgot about the pizza. Long story short: the pizza tasted like dirt so my parents ended up ordering Chinese." My heart warmed at the memory. I hadn't thought about that day in years.

"So you ate Chinese food for breakfast?" Annabeth asked, bemused.

I shrugged. "My family is weird."

"Then you'll fit right it. Go change, and I'll give you the grand tour."

If I had to use only one word to describe Camp Half-Blood, I'd used "whoa."

There was a strawberry field, a huge forest surrounding the camp, and the glittering expanse of the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Cabins were here like a normal summer camp, sure, but they looked like they fell straight out of the Twilight Zone, each one more bizarre than the last. Two of them looked like his-and-hers bank buildings. One looked like a Vegas-style casino, another like a factory with brick walls and chimneys. They were arranged in a rectangle around a central fire.

We passed by a building that looked like a hodgepodge of one of those old timey trains and an ancient Greek temple.

"That's the arts and craft building," Annabeth explained. "Campers can build their own statues, swords, whatever you can think of."

I stopped in my tracks. "We're allowed to make _swords_?"

"Some campers do. Others get… hand-me-downs I'd guess you'd call them."

Hand-me-down melee weapons? I decided to leave it at that.

Campers raced in sail boats on a huge lake. A few others were climbing a rock wall, and unless I was crazy, it looked like it was shaking violently and pouring lava. I nearly jumped out of my skin when a rider on a winged horse (a Pegasus, Annabeth called it) swooped over head, flying a little too low for comfort.

Annabeth was a good tour guide. She showed me to the stables, the commons area, and the amphitheater, to name a few. She explained that Camp Half-Blood was mostly a summer camp, though some campers chose to stay all year. Her tone was calm and collected, no doubt trying to ease me into the weirdness, which wasn't easy to do. By the end of the tour my mind was reeling from all the information.

We ended up back by the strawberry fields and decided to sit and take a break. When the air blew it made the whole area smell fresh and sweet.

I stared at the camp alive with activity. My expression must have been troubling because Annabeth put a hand on my shoulder. "I know it's a lot of information to process," she said. "We've all been there."

"I don't get it," I admitted. "What's all this about?"

She sighed, like she was used to explaining this, but was never really excited about it. "Let me ask you a few things, okay?"

"Sure."

"You mentioned your parents before," she said carefully. "Is one of them your step-parent?"

I bit back a snide remark. A lot of the time, people that I've met couldn't believe that my dad was really _my_ _dad_. Every time they said "Really? I had no clue" it made me angry. They never said it, but I knew that they thought that I looked too dark to be half-white, half-native Hawaiian. Unlike Alana and Max, who were the perfect blend of both our parents, I took after Mom more; my hair was dark brown and my facial features were similar to hers. The only thing I got from my dad were his blue eye, and barely. My eyes were a mix of green and blue, like they couldn't determine what color they wanted to be.

But Annabeth had never met my parents. She didn't know what they looked like, and I knew it was stupid to get mad.

"No," I said. "They're both my real parents."

"Are you positive?" Annabeth asked. "Have they ever said anything to you about it?"

"I'm sure," I said. "I have a sister."

"Is she younger or older?"

"Fraternal twin." I took one last sip of my nectar. This time, it tasted more like sweet-and-sour pork than burnt pepperoni.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I've never heard of something like that. You'll have to talk to Chiron."

"The camp director? Why doesn't this Chiron guy explain all of this to me?"

"He's busy talking to your friend, Hayden. She said that there were things she wanted to sort out."

"What did she want to talk about?" I asked.

"I'm not sure" Annabeth said. "Last night she was shaken up after you were attacked by the _Amphisbaena_. I could tell she was worried about you; this is the least I could do." I got the feeling she wasn't just talking about the tour.

"What do you mean?"

"Kaia," she said. There was a cautious edge to her voice. "Do you know about the Greek gods?"

I was confused, but I nodded. "Zeus, Aphrodite, Hades. You mean those old myths?"

Thunder rolled off the Long Island shore. I glanced up at the sky, but it was perfectly clear. Weird.

"Be careful, Kaia," Annabeth warned. "Names have power. But you're right. Do you know the stories about some of them having kids with mortals?"

"Like Hercules and Theseus?"

"Yes." She paused for a moment, and I wondered where she was going with this.

Finally she said, "The ancient Greek myths are all real. The gods are still around, and they have children with mortals; demigods. That's what we are. Who _you_ are."

I kept waiting for her to yell "_Psyche!_" and pie me in the face or something. But her face was completely serious.

"Hold on," I said. "You're saying that everyone here is a half-god or something?"

"Half-_blood_," Annabeth corrected. "Or demigod, but not everyone. Some of the campers are Satyrs, like Cole, or nymphs."

I let this sink in. Gods, half-bloods. Satyrs and nymphs? It was all too ridiculous to believe. Still, a nagging voice in the back of my head was totally convinced. Did I believe in monsters? Sure, I've seen enough proof to believe that, but gods?

"I have both of my parents," I said. "I have a twin. If I'm a half-blood, why isn't she here, too?"

"Cole would have been able to smell if she were a demigod," Annabeth said. "Satyrs have sharp noses and don't usually make mistakes."

"But how can _I_ be a half-blood?"

Annabeth looked down at the field, in deep thought. "I don't know. But we'll find out. Who knows, maybe your godly parent will claim you tonight."

"Maybe," I grumbled.

"You belong here, Kaia," she said encouragingly.

I twisted the water bottle; the crinkling noise was drowned out by the wind. "How can you know that?"

"Because I know _you_." Annabeth said that like she had said that line many times. "You probably have ADHD or dyslexia or both, right?"

I stared at her. "How'd you know?"

"We're all like that," she said. "A lot of us have been kicked out of multiple schools, too. My boyfriend, Percy—" Her cheeks went pink. "Well, he's been kicked out of a lot of schools. He once shot a Civil War canon at his school bus on a field trip."

I laughed, which helped lessen my confusion and worry a bit. I could tell that Annabeth was at least trying to cheer me up, and I appreciated that.

Annabeth got up and dusted grass off of her pants. "I got an idea," she announced. "Come with me."

I stood. "Where're we going?"

She grinned mischievously. "I'm taking you sword shopping."

As we walked to her cabin's armory, Annabeth told me that as a female demigod, I had the option of joining the Hunters of Artemis: an immortal band of female archers that followed the goddess around the country hunting monsters and game alike. It sounded like a pretty sweet deal, except for one little thing.

"No dating boys ever?" I asked. "Not even a little?"

She answered affirmative, and I decided to take a rain check on that.

Annabeth's cabin wasn't as showy as the other cabins, just a modest-looking gold and blue building with an owl carving at the top.

"The owl is a symbol of Athena, right?" I asked.

Annabeth nodded proudly. "Correct."

We headed to the side of the cabin to a gardening shed, but instead of hoes, rakes, and shovels, it held spears, swords, and—

"Is that a gun," I asked, pointing.

Annabeth glanced at it like it was no big deal. "Yeah, but I don't think a pistol is really your style."

"Agreed."

"All demigods need a weapon," she told me. "Most of us have swords. Some of us use spears."

"You use a knife," I pointed out.

She pursed her lips. "I don't know. Swords are better because they have a longer reach. With a knife, you have to be quick."

I thought about the monster I killed last night. Sure I had killed it with Hayden's dagger, but I hadn't been swift enough and I got poisoned. Some distance via a sword would've been nice.

"You're right," I said, and started to browse through the weapons. I looked pasted the spears; I doubted I would be able to use it effectively, and besides I'd rather have a weapon I could swing like a club. It felt more secure.

I picked up a sword with a curved blade that was heavy in my hand. I put it back and continued searching. A sword caught my attention from the corner of my eye. Curious, I picked it up and almost had a hernia.

"Why is this one pink?" I demanded. The sword's sheath was bright Barbie pink, decorated with little hearts and stars. I pulled it out and the blade was the same bronze as Annabeth's knife, but I could've sworn it had a faint pink aura around it. The pink leather grip was also embedded with heart designs. It was burning through my corneas.

Annabeth stared at it, equally dumbfounded as I was. "I have no idea. Maybe it was from the Aphrodite cabin."

I shivered. "After this, I'm burying that." I hid it from the sun light behind a bunch of other swords and spears.

Something nicked the back of my hand and I hissed. I looked for the culprit and found one sword that didn't have a sheath. I grabbed it and tried it out. Surprisingly, it felt perfect in my hands. Not too heavy, not too light.

"This one," I murmured. "I like this one."

Annabeth stared at the sword unfavorably, though the sword looked normal enough. It was a classic Greek sword, with a small wave design carved on the blade. Something shiny and blood red was embedded into the flat pommel; I recognized it as sea glass. Greek writing was sloppily etched onto the cross guard. I was startled to find that I could read it easily: one side read _fury_, the other _waves_.

"I'm not so sure," Annabeth said. "I know this sword. It was owned by pirates. There's a bad history behind it."

"It doesn't look like a pirate sword," I said, drawing from less than subpar knowledge of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

"A lot of pirates were demigods, like Blackbeard, the son of Ares. They all had swords similar to this one." She pointed to the sword I was holding. "However, the Mist might have changed how mortals saw them, aligning the sword's image to the standard pirate sword of the day."

"Oh," I said. I was still weirded out with the whole Mist thing. "So this place will just let crazed fourteen year olds carry swords."

"You'll be trained."

"Trained?"

"To fight monsters," Annabeth said. "They'll continue to come after you, and it'll be much worse that last night."

I was poisoned my giant snake-chicken monster and was on the verge of death. I didn't really want to think about what could be worse than that.

Annabeth continued, "Once you know who you are, it'll be easier for _them _to know. We have to fight monsters so we can survive in the mortal world. That's what all of this is for."

All of this.

I looked at the camp around me. The climbing wall, canoeing, Pegasi riding, sword training, Greek mythology; all of these crazy amazing things around me were going to teach me how to survive? The idea was so bizarre, I couldn't really comprehend it. But Annabeth explained everything with such conviction that I couldn't help but think that she may be right.

"You can leave your sword here in the shed," Annabeth said. "At least until your determined and have your own chest."

"Determined?" I asked.

"It means that we know who your godly parent is. Since we're not sure, you're undetermined for know."

So many questions bonked around in my head until I was torn out of my thoughts by a boy's voice.

"Annabeth!"

We turned. Two dark haired boys headed our way from across the green. Annabeth regarded the shorter boy quizzically before looking at the other. She smiled so warmly, I thought that the taller boy had to be her boyfriend, Percy.

When the pair got to us, the taller boy grabbed Annabeth by the hand and kissed her on the cheek. "Hey," he said. "I heard what happened. You all right?"

"I'm fine," Annabeth said. "We're taking a tour through camp."

She motioned to me, and the guy looked as though he hadn't noticed me standing there before. He had bright sea green eyes with a care free look that I found strangely familiar. "Percy," Annabeth said, "this is Kaia. Kaia, Percy and Nico."

The shorter boy extended his hand towards me. "Nico di Angelo."

"Hi," I said, and my heart skipped a beat.

Unlike the other campers who wore orange T-shirts, Nico wore a black shirt with dancing skeletons instead. What was once probably olive skin looked ghostly and pale; and his hair was adorably messy.

And God, he was cute.

I realized that my mouth was hanging open like a doofus. He was giving me an expecting look. My ears burned.

"K-Kaia." I shook his hand; it was as cold as ice. "But you know that. You can call me Kai if you want or whatever."

_Smooth._

Percy smiled. "Hey, welcome to camp,"

"Thanks."

He glanced down at the sword in my hand, which I was pointing it haphazardly in his direction. I almost forgot that I was holding it.

"Sorry!" I stabbed the sword into the dirt. "There, that's safer, sorta."

They all raised an eyebrow at me, but recovered just as quickly.

"So Nico," Annabeth said after a beat, "I'm surprised to see you here."

"I'm actually only staying for awhile," he said. "I'll be leaving next week."

"Really?" Percy asked. "Where are you going to go?"

Nico shifted on his feet. "I'm going go to the Underworld to see my dad. Check out a few cemeteries. The usual." He didn't meet Percy's eyes. I got the feeling he was going to do more than he let on, but it was none of my business.

"Oh, okay." Percy sounded crestfallen, like he didn't want Nico out by himself, but also like that's what he came to expect. "Well, I'm glad you decided to come. You'll be here for Capture the Flag."

I blinked. "Capture the Flag? Is this normal Capture the Flag? Or some extreme Ninja Warrior type Capture the Flag?"

Percy laughed. "I guess you could say it's the second one."

"Should I be nervous?"

"Not really," Nico said. "Hardly anyone dies."

I looked at him. "Don't say it like that. That's somehow worse."

"You'll be fine," Percy assured me. "Tell you what; you can be on my team and I'll help you out. Who's your godly parent?"

"She's an undetermined, Percy," Annabeth said gently.

Percy's brow furrowed. "Really? How old are you?"

"Fourteen," I said. "Why?"

"The gods were supposed to claim their children by the time they're thirteen. That was the deal that was made." He sounded pretty miffed.

"What deal?"

"Don't worry," Annabeth said to both of us. "With luck, Kaia will be claimed by tonight."

"Yeah," I said, trying to sound upbeat. "That's great."

Annabeth put a hand on Percy's shoulder. "I'm taking her to see Chiron. See you at lunch?"

Percy grinned. "It's a date."

He kissed her again, and I couldn't help but notice Nico wincing, as if he had been slapped.

The big house was a huge four story farm house painted baby blue that was right across from the volleyball court. On the porch, a girl and two men were playing cards at a table. One of the men was in a wheelchair with a blanket over his lap. He had brown hair, a scruffy beard, and wore a brown tweed jacket. The other man was smaller but portlier with a loud Hawaiian shirt with some kind of animal print. A satyr stood beside him, nervously offering a bowl of grapes whenever the man beckoned with a wave of his hand. I tried not to stare at his furry lower goat half, but I couldn't help it.

(I know, I know; I'm rude. But what was _your _reaction when you saw your first full-blown satyr?)

I wondered why the satyr didn't sit in the extra chair. Then I noticed a pair of cards floated eye-level above the table, like they were being held by an invisible card player.

_Um… sure?_

"Hayden!" I said, trying to take in all the weirdness.

She looked up from her cards and grinned. "Hey, Kai." She wore the same orange T-shirt that Annabeth had given me along with a fresh new pair of jeans.

"Chiron," Annabeth said, motioning with her hand to point out who was who, "this is Kaia; Kaia, Chiron. And this is Mr. D."

"Hello," I said.

The man in the wheelchair, Chiron, smiled at me. "I suppose it's a tad bit late, but welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Kaia."

The pudgier guy, Mr. D, snorted and tossed some game chips into the center of the table.

"Mr. D," Chiron said patiently.

"Oh, very well," Mr. D sighed, not looking up from his cards. "Welcome, welcome. Words cannot express how happy I am that you've arrived safely. There, happy?"

Words could not express the amount of sarcasm in his greeting.

"Uh, thank you?" I said.

He glared at me with blood shot eyes. His face was fat and puffy like a baby, although not nearly as cute.

"That sounded disingenuous," he retorted.

"I assure you that it wasn't."

Mr. D looked at me for a second, before rolling his eyes and returning to his game.

"You must excuse Mr. D," Chiron said. "I'm afraid I put him in a rather bad mood from winning three games in a row."

Mr. D grunted and reached for the bowl of grapes, making the satyr flinch.

"But no matter," Chiron continued. "From what I've heard you've been through quite a rough night."

I wasn't sure what to say. Do I shrug it off and pretend like it was no big deal, or do I tell the truth, that I was utterly scared out of my mind?

Chiron inclined his head in understanding. "I assumed that Annabeth has explained everything to you?"

"She did, but…"

"Let me guess," Mr. D chimed in, "another little nonbeliever?"

There was a dangerous edge to his tone of voice that made me hesitate answering his question. The satyr shook his head at me, his eyes warning me to stay quiet.

"I can assure you," Chiron said, "that the gods—the ancient Greek gods—are very real." He sat down his playing cards, jotted down some numbers on a legal pad, and grinned. "I believe the game is mine."

Hayden and Mr. D groaned in unison. The invisible hands let go of the cards, dropping them onto the table like they had a bit of an attitude.

"You're too good at this, lord Chiron!" Hayden said.

Chiron's eyes twinkled mysteriously. "Well, I've had plenty of years to practice, my dear."

Mr. D mumbled something under his breath about cheating horse men. I had no clue what that meant, but I didn't question it.

"Chiron," Annabeth said. "I have to go teach Ancient Greek lessons. Would you mind taking over for me?"

"Not at all, Annabeth," he said.

She regarded me. "Don't worry," she said simply, as if those two words conveyed everything she wanted to say. Annabeth inclined her head in Hayden's direction before jogging off the porch and down the yard.

Chiron turned to me and smiled. "Sit, child. We have much to discuss."

I looked to Hayden, who nodded at me reassuringly. I sat down cautiously, wondering if I was sitting on the invisible player. The chair felt like a chair and not a stranger's lap, so I relaxed a bit.

"Katie, was it?" Mr. D asked. He was shuffling the playing cards in his hands.

I frowned. "It's Kaia, actually."

He waved away my response. "Whatever. Can you play pinochle?"

"A little." I said. "Why?"

"Because we need a fourth player," he said, matter-of-factly, passing cards around the table.

"Oh, okay."

We played pinochle for a while in an uncomfortable silence. I knew the rules from years of playing with Nana and Alana since we were nine. So far, I thought I was doing pretty well.

Eventually, I had to break the tension. I figured Chiron could answer some of my questions. "So, Mr. Chiron."

Chiron smiled. "No need for formalities, dear."

"Right." I fidgeted in my seat.

"I know this all can be hard to except," Chiron said, as if he could read my mind. "Gods aren't always easy to believe in."

I laughed dryly. "I can believe that."

Mr. D grunted indignantly. The Satyr behind him looked pale.

"Kai," Hayden said. "Mr. D _is_ a god. You might want to be less…snarky."

I looked at the pudgy man in the tasteless Hawaiian shirt. _He _was a god?

Mr. D glared at me. "If I were you, girl, I'd listen to your friend. She has some sense."

For an instant, I could've sworn that a purplish fire glowed in his eyes. I couldn't explain it, but a nervous sensation trickled down my spine. God or no god, I didn't want to make this guy mad.

I gulped and mumbled an apology, but Mr. D didn't really seem to care.

"So, Chiron," I tried again, "Hayden and I won't have to stay long, right? What about my parents? What do they think happened to us?"

Chiron rearranged the card in his hands. "It was a simple matter of a phone call. Hayden supplied the telephone numbers, and I called to inform both your school and your parents that the two of you were recruited to tour a private school for, well, gifted students."

"And they believed a crazy lie like that?"

"Of course," he said as if it were no big deal. "The Mist can fool people into believing and excepting almost anything."

"Of course it can," I muttered.

"It'll all make more sense in due time," Chiron said. "Most heroes are skeptical when they first learn of the gods."

"But I have both of my parents and a twin."

Chiron looked confused, but not as much as I expected.

I told him the same story that I told Annabeth. The kind older man listened intently, stroking his beard and nodding every once in a while.

When I was done, Chiron was quiet for a moment. His brows were furrowed, as if contemplating something I said. "Your story sounds familiar."

I frowned. "Seriously? How?"

"The hero Heracles—you probably know him by his Roman name, Hercules—he also had a twin brother, Iphicles, who was not a child of Zeus."

"How is that…?" I shook my head. "Never mind. I don't wanna know."

Chiron chuckled. "That is probably for the best. The gods tend to have, ah, unusual escapades. No offense, Mr. D."

Mr. D shrugged. "None taken. I can't say that you're wrong."

I shivered, and decided not to think too deeply about it.

"So is that the case?" I asked. "One of my parents is not really my parent?"

"Sadly, that seems to be the case," Chiron confirmed.

I swallowed and stared at the game chips in the center of the table. I didn't know whether I believed in all this god business or not, but being told that one of my parents wasn't really my parent with such certainty put a bad taste in my mouth.

"In any case," Chiron continued, "we will get you situated into your cabin as soon as Argus comes back from your school with your belongings."

"What about Hayden?" I turned to her. "Annabeth said you stayed behind to talk to Chiron. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry." She was staring at her cards, probably to avoid looking me in the eye. "I'll explain it later, okay?"

I didn't understand what was so bad that she couldn't tell me. It rubbed salt into the wound to know that she was keeping another secret from me.

Chiron placed his cards on the table and put a hand on my shoulder. "I can't guarantee much, I'm afraid. But know that this camp is safe. Trust in the training and in time, believing will come."

I didn't believe it, but I said okay anyway.

A kind light twinkled in Chiron's eye. He flipped his cards around and tallied up his points on is notepad. "It seems that I've won again."

We played Pinochle for a while after that. And each time we got our butts kicked by Chiron.

Argus and two other satyrs came back with our stuff around late afternoon. I was told that outside food wasn't allowed into camp, but Argus saved my "mortal money." He handed it to me in an envelope and winked the eye on his chin.

Oh, by the way, Argus had a hundred eyes all over his body. Chiron had warned me, but I was still pretty shocked. I hoped he didn't notice me staring at the eyeballs on his feet (but I'm pretty sure he had).

One of the satyrs escorted me to the Hermes cabin. I hoped that Hayden would come, at least to see me off, but she stayed behind so Mr. D could teach her the "art of Pac-Man". I got the feeling that something was up, but I didn't say anything. The satyr carted me away before I could tell the story of how Pac-Man got its name (a funny anecdote I heard from my uncle. Apparently the satyr knew, too).

"Mr. D is a _huge_ Pac-Man fan," he said nervously. "I don't want to see him change you into a dolphin for upsetting him."

"Can't have that," I said.

The satyr took me to the only normal looking cabin at camp. It was a simple wooden cabin, nothing flashy. It looked beaten up and lived in. I got the feeling a lot of campers have been in and out of here.

"The snakes on the pole with wings," I said, pointing at the symbol above the door. "Isn't that the symbol of Hernia? No! Hermit?"

The satyr frowned. "It's _Hermes_, but yes. The symbol is called a caduceus."

He dumped—I mean _left_—me with the head counselors of the cabin. The two boys, who introduced themselves as Travis and Connor Stoll, looked so alike I mistook them for twins. They were snarky fast-talkers who looked like trouble makers. In other words, they were my kind of guys.

My other cabin mates were pretty cool, too. They didn't seem like my presence was bothering them much. Most of them had similar features—pointy ears, eyebrows that gave that "oh, _really_?" expression— that made me think for a moment that maybe they all _were _brothers and sisters.

All the bunks were full, so I had to share the floor with a few other kids. I plopped my box of belongings and new sleeping bag onto my own little section of the floor and hid my money in my shoe. I didn't know much about Hermes, but I think I've heard about him taking a liking to stealing. I didn't think that those kinds of traits could be passed on, but I wasn't taking any chances.

All of my cabin mates hung around talking and palling around with each other. I wasn't a shy type, but I wasn't too eager to socialize yet. Right then, I just wanted to let the day settle in.

Was this my new life from now? Sleeping on the floor, training to fight monsters and being taught about gods as if they existed. Would I be able to leave? Would I get to see my family again?

Of course I'd get to leave and see my family again. Annabeth said that some campers only visited camp in the summer. I would get claimed or whatever and I'd be able to get back to my old life. No part of me intended on staying at camp permanently.

Looking back, my hopes were stupidly optimistic.

Dinner was held in the open pavilion next to the beach. Every once in a while, a breeze came through and carried the crisp salt-water smell with it. Like the cabins, the tables were sectioned off by campers' godly parent, which explained why some tables were more crowded than others. To my surprise, I saw Mr. D at a table with a few satyrs, and a blonde boy and a girl who looked about ten years old.

In front, Chiron sat on a horse behind a table on a raised section. No, he wasn't on a horse, he _was_ the horse. From the waist up he was a middle aged guy, but waist down he was a white stallion. The sight was so jarring that I forgot to breath.

Chiron was talking calmly to Hayden, who looked pretty nervous. She kept glancing at the other campers who seemed to take notice of her right away.

A kid from the Hermes cabin said to me, "Hey, she's your friend, right?"

"Yes," I said.

"Why does she get to sit up there with Chiron?"

I said that I didn't know. The Hermes kid rolled their eyes. Apparently didn't give a suffice answer.

The Hermes table was more packed than the other tables. We had to squeeze in on the bench like a pack of sardines.

When it looked like the entire camp was there, Chiron pounded his hoof on the table. Immediately, everyone went silent.

Chiron raised his goblet. "To the gods!"

Everyone repeated the cheer. I was a bit late in the cheer and my table mates ending up ribbing me about it.

My goblet was empty, but Connor (or Travis. It couldn't tell them apart yet) told me to ask it for any drink I wanted. I figured there was no harm in trying. "Dr. Pepper."

Instantly, the brown liquid filled my cup.

I grinned and took a sip. The taste was sharper than ordinary Dr. Pepper, but that made it taste all the more great.

Girls in Ancient Greek dresses came up with trays and trays of the most delicious looking food I ever saw: fresh fruits and vegetables, barbeque brisket, pizza, freshly baked bread, you name it, it was here.

My stomach growled in anticipation. I loaded my plate up with a little bit of everything.

Suddenly, everyone took their plates and went towards the brazier of fire that sat in the center. Travis (or Connor) said that at each meal we burned a portion of our food to honor the gods. Apparently the gods liked the smell of burning food. I went along with it; when in Rome, or Greece I guess.

Everyone said a little prayer or the name of their godly parent before scraping in the juiciest parts of their dinner. I thought of what to say, but before I could it was my turn.

I cleared my throat. "To, ah, to whom it may concern: here." I scraped some fruit and barbecue into the fire. A fresh scent caught me by surprise. The smell of wild flowers, an ocean breeze, and a dozen different foods that should smell pretty gross together but didn't floated to the sky on a trail of smoke.

Dinner, of course, was great. I got along well with my cabin mates; we swapped prank stories and joked around with each other.

Every once in a while I'd glance over to Hayden who seemed to be doing better. She was talking to Chiron and seemed to be more at eased with herself.

I noticed Nico and Percy were sitting at their own individual tables. I frowned. They looked lonely, sectioned off from the rest of camp. I wondered why the tables were divided up like the cabins. It didn't seem fair.

About halfway through dinner, a boy at my table was claimed. I almost missed bowing to him with the rest of camp because I was staring at the glowing green and gold wheel of fortune (the symbol of Tyche) that spun over his head, occasionally setting off miniature fireworks before it faded.

When dinner was over, Chiron raised his hand for silence.

Mr. D stood up at his table. He sighed. "Once again, hello to all you brats—I mean campers. I guess I should welcome our two new campers, Katie Fawcett and Haley Kasuboski. And I suppose some of you are wondering why one of them is sitting with Chiron tonight."

He picked up his goblet, and took a nice long sip from it. He casually swished his drink around in his cup as if he had forgotten that he had an audience, or he simply didn't care.

Mr. D looked up at us in dull surprise. "Oh, well, I suppose Chiron will explain."

He sat back in his seat, and I wasn't sure if we were supposed to clap or not.

Chiron cleared his throat. "Thank you, Mr. D. I know some of you are already aware of Kaia and Hayden's rather sporadic arrival last night, though I suppose I should get right to what I know you're all wondering. Hayden sits with me because her divine parent, Lady Thetis, goddess of water, does not have a table nor a cabin built. Construction will go up tomorrow. Until then, Hayden will stay at cabin thirteen."

In that moment, pandemonium broke loose. Everyone was asking a million questions all at once. I looked around at everyone. What was so bad about cabin thirteen?

Through the commotion, I caught Nico's reaction. His mouth hung open almost comically, but he looked just as shocked as everyone else.

Chiron's voice cut above the noise. "Calm, campers, calm. Hayden is merely a descendent of Lord Hades, the first legacy in several years. There is no need for alarm."

That seemed to calm everyone down a bit, but Hayden still looked uncomfortable with everyone's attention directed at her. After a beat, the camp settled into quiet murmurs.

Chiron forced a smiled. "All right then. That's enough excitement for one meal. I think I speak for everyone when I say it's time for s'mores."

Strangely enough, the campfire was the strangest part of the day (okay, it was in the top five). The fire was not only was huge, but it changed colors to reflect the camp's overall mood. At first it started out as a dim purple, then turned into a surreal shade of gold. Like the cabins and the tables, campers were grouped together under banners representing various gods.

In the beginning, everyone wanted to talk to Hayden about her "special situation". She gave them all very short, very vague answers. Luckily, I was able to save her from her adoring crowd and we were able to sit together.

Nico, who was also in the Hades cabin, sat with us, but was quiet for the entire time. He stared solemnly into the flames, the colors danced in the reflection of his eyes.

Some kids with guitars and lyres led the entire camp in a cheesy song about all the monsters on a farm. The cheery mood was rather infectious and I found myself singing along, even though I didn't know the words. Hayden looked quite embarrassed of me. I was glad to spend some time with her since coming to Camp Half-blood. I could pretend everything was normal, that we were at a normal summer camp. That everything was normal.

After the last song, Chiron came forward wishing everyone a good night and dismissed us all to our respective cabins.

Before we cleared out, I was able to talk to Hayden one last time. "Hey, I wanna talk for real, okay?"

She looked unsure about it, but nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, you bet."

She shuffled to the glowing green fires of cabin thirteen along with Nico. I wasn't sure who looked the most uncomfortable.

It was lights out in the Hermes's cabin, but a few of my cabin mates stayed up and were whispering to each other.

I lay awake in my sleeping bag, unable to fall asleep. I was tempted to get my stuffed Panda bear, Chalk, out of my box to use as a pillow, but didn't want to deal with the taunting I would get in the morning.

The day kept replaying in my mind. Monsters, gods, demigods; I didn't really belong here, but everyone I met today acted like being here was perfectly normal; like monsters were an everyday occurrence and the existence Greek gods were a matter of fact.

Then again, maybe they were all crazy.

But as much as I felt that I was in a foreign land, I didn't really feel out of place. Not quite at home, but I wasn't a fish out of water either. A small part of me did believe that everyone was telling the truth; that the gods were real.

Maybe _I _was the crazy one.

_Go with the flow,_ my dad once told me. It was part of his "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" philosophy. Dad has never given me wrong advice before, so I figured, what the heck? I'll play along until this all blows over.

Slowly, my cabin grew silent until all I could hear were the growls from monsters in the woods, the sound of waves lapping against the shore of the beach, and the occasional snoring from someone in my cabin. My eyelids grew heavy as I started to follow the cabin's example.


End file.
